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Pierre Castel, founder of the Castel Group, has been sentenced by the Swiss Federal Court for tax evasion in 2008 and 2009. He must pay 306.53 million euros in taxes and penalties for this, as well as court costs of over 200,000 euros. In 2018, Castel was sued by the tax authorities of the canton of Geneva for concealing income as chairman of the Castel Group from profit distributions of €68 million and movable assets of €423 million for the years in question. The Swiss tax authorities assumed an annual income of 179 million euros and total assets of 4.5 billion euros.
The 96-year-old Pierre Castel lived in Geneva for twelve years under his middle name "Jesus". He was accused of concealing his true income and assets. Castel has in the meantime settled the demanded back payments and penalties for 2009 totalling 58.8 million euros. Further proceedings are pending for the years 2010 and 2011.
According to its own information, the Castel group is the third largest wine group in the world with a turnover of 800 million euros and 500 million bottles sold per year.
(al / Source: vitisphere; Photo: Pierre Castel Foundation Fund)