Bernard Squarcini was found guilty of organizing a bizarre illegal surveillance operation on a gadfly journalist at the request of the luxury company, among other offenses.

Squarcini, who was accused of influence peddling, including obtaining confidential information for LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has been handed a four-year sentence, including two years suspended,

A Paris court on Friday sentenced the former head of France's domestic intelligence agency to four years in prison, two of them suspended, on charges of using his security contacts for private gain including by obtaining confidential information for luxury giant LVMH.

A Paris court found the former head of France's domestic security services, Bernard Squarcini, guilty on Friday of using public resources to benefit LVMH, in a trial that shed light on efforts by the world's biggest luxury group to protect its reputation.

France’s former top intelligence official, Bernard Squarcini, was found guilty of illegally taking advantage of his networks to serve private interests, including those of luxury giant LVMH’s head Bernard Arnault.

The former chief of France’s internal spy agency has been convicted of using public resources and his position of power to serve the private interests of Europe’s richest man, Bernard Arnault, the LVMH chief executive.