Bernard Tapie is to face trial for embezzlement and misuse of public funds along with five other defendants, around a decision by an arbitration committee to award him a controversial payout of €405 million in 2008, relating to the sale of Adidas. The arbitration came after a long drawn-out legal process, in which Tapie claimed that he had been fleeced by the formerly state-owned Crédit Lyonnais bank during the sale of Adidas to investors around the late Robert Louis-Dreyfus in 1993. The arbitration process was authorized by Christine Lagarde, French finance minister, after Nicolas Sarkozy became president in 2007, with support from Tapie. But three years later doubts were raised about the decision to opt for an arbitration. Tapie, who is now seriously ill, was finally ordered to repay the money last year. Other defendants will include Tapie's lawyer, Maurice Lantourne, and Stéphane Richard, president and chief executive at Orange, the French telecoms company, who was Lagarde's aide at the time. Lagarde was convicted by a special tribunal of negligence regarding the payout, but she escaped punishment.

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