Folli Follie founder, son jailed pending trial after depositions

The founder of disgraced Greek jeweller Folli Follie and his son, who are facing felony charges relating to the falsification of the company’s financial data were led to prison, after their depositions before an investigative magistrate on Wednesday.

Dimitris Koutsolioutsos, his son Georgios are facing a string of charges, including running, forming and joining a criminal organization, market manipulation, fraud against the investing public, money laundering and counterfeiting.

The former has been jailed in Athens’ high security Korydallos prison, while his son was led to a detention centre in Trikala, central Greece.

In his deposition, Dimitris Koutsolioutsos said he accepted part of what is attributed to him regarding the fictitious financial data that the company presented for a number of years.

He claimed that these actions started during a time of financial difficulties for the Group, which he believed would soon be normalised – something that did not happen due to the unfavorable economic environment that was created worldwide since 2007.

He also claimed that he did not benefit from his actions and argued that he financed the company many times with personal loans.

In his own deposition, his son, former CEO Georgios Koutsolioutsos, stated that he had no knowledge of the manipulated economic data, which were discovered at the Group’s Asian subsidiary.

He allegedly told the investigative magistrate that he was responsible for the parent Greek company.

Dimitris Koutsolioutsos’ wife, Katerina, also claimed she was unaware of the falsification of data, saying she was exclusively involved in the company's public relations and product design. She is facing charges of fraud, money laundering and market manipulation.

A total of 30 defendants have been questioned over the case, all of whom were released either with or without bail and restrictive measures. All suspects have so far denied any wrongdoing.

Folli Follie was founded by Dimitris Koutsolioutsos and his wife Katerina in 1982.

Koutsolioutsos, its chairman and founder, resigned in 2018 after a hedge-fund investor raised an alarm over the accuracy of Folli Follie’s financial statements.

An investigation by consultant Alvarez & Marsal found that the group’s Asia revenues were about 90 per cent lower than originally reported.