Actor Gerard Depardieu is under investigation for aggravated tax fraud in France, a source close to the case told AFP on Monday.
The 76-year-old actor, already accused in a string of sexual assault and rape cases, is suspected of falsely declaring his tax residency to be in Belgium since 2013, the source said.
A probe of his tax status, opened this month by financial crime prosecutors, has involved raids in France and Belgium as well as police interviews, the source said.
Depardieu himself — who is also suspected of failing to declare income — has not been questioned in the tax case so far, the source said, adding that the investigation was triggered by several tip-offs.
Depardieu is the highest-profile figure to face accusations in French cinema’s version of the #MeToo movement.
In October, a Paris court postponed his trial on sexual assault charges until March after his lawyer said the star was too ill to appear in court. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Depardieu became a star in France from the 1980s with roles in “The Last Metro”, “Police” and “Cyrano de Bergerac”, before Peter Weir’s “Green Card” also made him a Hollywood celebrity.
He later acted in global productions including Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet”, Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” and Netflix’s “Marseille” series.
Investigators are trying to establish whether Depardieu’s declaration of residence in Belgium was false, and “how much in taxes he has deprived France of since 2013”, the source said.
Depardieu said in 2012 that he would move to Belgium in protest against a wealth tax brought in under then-president Francois Hollande, a Socialist.
His move to Nechin, a small Belgian town near the French border known as a haven for wealthy French people, sparked much criticism at home, including from the prime minister at the time, Jean-Marc Ayrault, who called it “rather pathetic”.
– ‘Manhunt’ –
In reaction Depardieu threatened to give up his French citizenship.
He had already acquired Russian citizenship in a process fast-tracked by President Vladimir Putin, who treated him to a dinner to present him with his new passport, and Depardieu was subsequently full of praise for the Russian strongman.
Shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, as tensions soared at the Ukraine border, Depardieu opened an Instagram account with a picture of himself embracing Putin.
But once the tanks started rolling into Ukraine, Depardieu changed his tune and called for an end to the fighting, saying he was against what he described as a “fratricidal war”.
In late 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron came under fire for appearing to defend Depardieu by saying that the actor was the target of “a manhunt”.
Paris courts are still deciding whether to go ahead with a second trial for Depardieu for allegedly raping and sexually assaulting Charlotte Arnould, the first woman to file a criminal complaint against Depardieu in 2018.
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