PARIS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Hermes CEO Axel Dumas said he resisted multiple attempts by Jeffrey Epstein to meet with him, saying he believed he was a target of the financier who was a "financial
Hermes CEO Describes Jeffrey Epstein as a 'Financial Predator'
Epstein's Influence on Hermes CEO
By Helen Reid and Tassilo Hummel
PARIS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Hermes CEO Axel Dumas said on Thursday he had resisted repeated attempts by Jeffrey Epstein to meet with him, describing the financier as a "financial predator" who had targeted him during a corporate battle.
Documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice show Epstein emailed Dumas' assistant multiple times in 2013 and 2014 asking for meetings with him, as well as contacting the luxury brand to request they design his private jet. Hermes refused.
Background of the LVMH Affair
"I think I was a target, I was a young CEO and we were in the middle of the LVMH affair. He was a financial predator," Dumas said, adding: "He already had a hateful reputation."
Dumas told journalists that he was first approached by Epstein in 2013 at a time of heightened tensions when Hermes rival LVMH had built up a large equity stake in the company. LVMH always denied it was planning a takeover.
Dumas' Encounters with Epstein
Dumas said he only met Epstein once, in March 2013, during an event at an Hermès atelier. Epstein had not been on the list of attendees but joined a group with movie director Woody Allen and his wife, he added.
Reuters was not able to independently verify whether Allen and his wife were in a group joined by Epstein at the event. Allen and his wife were not immediately available for comment.
"After that, he tried three times to meet with me and I refused every time," Dumas said. "I can't tell you exactly what we knew about him or not, because I can't remember 13 years ago, but he already had a loathsome reputation."
Epstein's Reputation and Legal Issues
The DOJ files, including email receipts of purchases made at Hermes stores in Paris, show Epstein was a fan of the French brand which caters to the ultra-wealthy and had emailed to ask if it could "design my plane".
In one email to his assistant, Epstein writes: "Track down Axel Dumas in hermes headquarters paris".
The emails show Dumas' own assistant politely refusing Epstein's invitations to meet him in November 2013 and January 2014, citing a "prior engagement" and "a very tight agenda".
Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2008 on prostitution charges, including soliciting an underage girl.
He was arrested again in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. His 2019 death in a Manhattan jail cell was ruled a suicide.
(Reporting by Helen Reid and Tassilo Hummel; editing by Richard Lough and Alexander Smith)
