Former Adidas owner and French tycoon Bernard Tapie, shocked, and his wife were tied up with electrical wires and were severely beaten during a violent robbery at their home, according to officials.
Tapie, 78, and his wife, Dominique Tapie, 70, were sleeping at their home in Combs-la-Ville, near Paris, around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, when four men broke in and the they tied up, according to police, according to AFP.
The suspects hit Tapie in the head with a club, but he did not want to be hospitalized, the dam reported.
“My grandfather refused to take it,” his grandson Rodolphe Tapie told the dam. “He is devastated, very tired. He was sitting in a chair when he was beaten. “
His wife, slightly injured several times in the face, managed to break free and find safety at a neighbor’s house, where he called police.
She was hospitalized for a brief checkup.
“He’s fine,” the couple’s grandson told AFP.
The thieves pulled Dominique Tapie by the hair “because they wanted to know where the treasure was,” Combs-la-Ville Mayor Guy Geoffroy said at the exit. “But of course, there was no treasure, and the fact that they didn’t find it made the violence worse.”
The suspects withdrew with two watches, one of them Rolex, as well as earrings, bracelets and a ring, a source close to the investigation told AFP.
Bernard Tapie is an ex Socialist minister who emerged from humble beginnings but who eventually built a sports and media empire, before having legal problems.
He was the majority shareholder in the sportswear brand Adidas, as well as the owner of the Olympique de Marseille football club, which won the French championship during his tenure.
He was also briefly the French Minister of Urban Affairs in the government of François Mitterrand from 1992 to 1993.
But Tapie was found guilty in several cases of corruption, tax fraud and misuse of corporate assets. He spent five months behind bars in 1997 and was banned from participating in any French election.
After his release, he performed and organized concerts on radio and television.
In 2012 he became head of the media, taking over the southern French newspaper La Provence and other newspapers.
Now it is facing a criminal lawsuit for a fraudulent arbitration package of 404 million euros (current 450 million dollars) related to his sale of Adidas in the 1990s.
With publishing cables