A butler who secretly recorded private conversations between aging L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and her lawyers, financial advisers and various politicians will stand trial, along with five journalists who published the tapes’ contents, for breaching French privacy laws.
Bettencourt's now former butler Pascal Bonnefoy created the tapes over a 12-month period between 2009 and 2010 by placing a hidden recording device in the drawing room of Bettencourt's mansion in suburban Paris.
