Five Arrested in France Over €50 Million VAT Fraud Involving Luxury Car Imports

• Five suspects arrested in northern France for alleged VAT fraud involving luxury car imports.
• The group is accused of organized VAT fraud, money laundering, and criminal conspiracy, with four suspects in pre-trial custody.
• The scheme exploited EU VAT exemptions on cross-border transactions, using multiple companies and large cash purchases.
• Authorities seized vehicles, cash, jewels, luxury goods, and froze bank accounts in France, Germany, and Lithuania; €6.7 million in VAT lost in France, with over €50 million in estimated total damages.
• The investigation was led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, following a report of forged invoices and VAT evasion in car imports from Germany.

Source: eppo.europa.eu

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.

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