特权、秘密和丑闻，最富有女性贝当古的一生
欧莱雅化妆品公司(L’Oréal)的法国女继承人利利亚娜·贝当古(Liliane Bettencourt)于周三在巴黎郊区塞纳河畔讷伊的家中去世，享年94岁。她不仅继承了该公司的巨额财富，还曾背负与法西斯过从甚密的家族历史。在晚年，她遭到一系列指控的困惑，有人说她被一名比她年轻的男子控制，曾给了他14亿美元。
Her death was confirmed by Jean-Paul Agon, chairman and chief executive of L’Oréal Group, on the company’s website.
欧莱雅集团的总裁兼首席执行官让-保罗·阿贡(Jean-Paul Agon)在该公司的网站上确认了她的死讯。
L’affaire Bettencourt had captivated France since 2007, when a daughter’s lawsuit charged that Bettencourt, ranked as the richest woman in the world, had been bamboozled by a society photographer 25 years her junior for cash, annuities, fine art and, it seemed, an island in the Seychelles. The complaint challenged her mother’s competency and led to criminal charges against the man, who was portrayed as a gigolo.
贝当古事件从2007年起吸引了整个法国的注意，她的一名女儿提起诉讼，指控贝当古被比自己小25岁的交际圈摄影师骗取了现金、年金和艺术品，似乎还包括塞舌尔的一座小岛。贝当古去世前是世界上最富有的女性。这项指控对贝当古的能力提出了质疑，并引发了针对那名被描绘成男妓的男子的刑事讼诉。
Accused of “abus de faiblesse,” or exploiting the old woman’s frailty, the photographer, François-Marie Banier, was bombarded at a trial in early 2015 by the testimony of maids, butlers, doctors and others who called him the dominating manipulator of an overmedicated, disoriented woman. They said he chose Bettencourt’s lipstick and clothing, monitored her appointments and once suggested that she adopt him.
2015年初，摄影师弗朗索瓦-马里·巴尼耶(François-Marie Banier)在审判中遭到女佣、管家和医生等证人的指控，称他利用老年女性的脆弱，支配和操纵一位过度用药、失去判断力的女人。他们说他替贝当古选择唇膏和服装，监控她与他人的会面，并曾建议她收养自己。
Deaf and afflicted with dementia, Bettencourt did not attend the trial. But her daughter and court-appointed guardian, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, told the court in the southwestern city of Bordeaux: “The strategy of Mr. Banier was not just to divide and conquer. It was to break and conquer. To break our family. It was programmed destruction.”
失聪且患有失智症的贝当古没有参加审判。但她的女儿、法庭指定监护人弗朗索瓦丝·贝当古-梅耶斯(Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers)在西南部城市波尔多的法庭上表示：“巴尼耶的策略不只是为了分裂和征服。而是为了破坏和征服。他想破坏我们的家族。是精心设计的毁灭。”
Banier, who faced up to three years in prison, vehemently denied the daughter’s accusations and brushed off the retainers’ criticisms with literary references to Molière and a play by Jean Genet about maids plotting against a rich employer. “These are people who take revenge for a life they don’t have,” he said.
巴尼耶当时面临长达三年的监禁，坚决否认这名女儿的指控，并引用莫里哀(Molière)的文学作品以及让·热内(Jean Genet)的一部关于仆人们阴谋陷害富有雇主的戏剧，驳斥了仆人们的指责。“这些人是想报复他们无法拥有的生活，”他说。
In May 2015, the court convicted Banier of abuse and money laundering and sentenced him to three years in prison, of which six months were suspended. He was also ordered to pay 158 million euros, or $173 million, in damages and a fine equivalent to about $418,000.
2015年5月，该法庭判定巴尼耶滥用信任、洗钱，判处他三年监禁，其中六个月缓期执行。法庭还命令他赔偿1.58亿欧元(约合1.73亿美元)的损失，并对他罚款约41.8万美元。
The Butler Was Taping
管家在偷偷录音
In 2010, the family soap opera also exploded into a government scandal after tape recordings secretly made by the dowager’s butler, and accusations by a former family accountant, suggested that Bettencourt had kept $98 million in secret Swiss bank accounts, evaded taxes, given envelopes of cash to Cabinet ministers and made illegal campaign contributions to Nicolas Sarkozy shortly before his election to the French presidency in 2007.
2010年，这部家族肥皂剧还演变成了一桩政府丑闻。这位富孀的管家偷偷录下的音频以及一名前家族会计的指控表明，贝当古曾在瑞士的秘密银行账户里存了9800万美元，还曾逃税，给多位内阁部长塞红包，在尼古拉·萨科齐(Nicolas Sarkozy)2007年当选法国总统前不久为他的竞选非法捐款。
Sarkozy denied any improprieties, but he lost the presidency to the Socialist François Hollande in 2012, and with it his official immunity from prosecution. He was placed under formal investigation, suspected of having taken advantage of Bettencourt’s mental frailty to obtain campaign funds. However, French magistrates dropped the inquiry in 2013.
萨科齐否认自己有任何不当行为，但他在2012年的总统竞选中输给了社会党人弗朗索瓦·奥朗德(François Hollande)，也因此失去了官方的起诉豁免权。他被正式调查，被怀疑利用贝当古的精神脆弱谋取竞选资金。不过，2013年，法国地方法官放弃了调查。
While she remained in the background most of her life, Bettencourt had long tried to live down the stains of anti-Semitic activities and Nazi associations by her father and husband before and during World War II: a well-documented record of propaganda writings and material support for fascist groups, some of whose followers found refuge after the war at L’Oréal.
虽然贝当古一生的大部分时间都在幕后，但她长期以来一直努力让人们忘记她的父亲和丈夫在二战前和二战期间的反犹太活动及纳粹关系污点：他们为一些法西斯团体做出了政治宣传，并给予物质支持，那些团体的一些成员战后获得了欧莱雅的庇护，这些都得到了充分记录。
Regal, extroverted, a tireless socialite who loved balls and dinner parties, jewels and haute couture, Bettencourt was ranked by Forbes this year as the richest woman in the world, with her net worth put at $39.5 billion. She was the majority shareholder of L’Oréal, the world’s largest, most powerful cosmetics company.
贝当古华贵、外向，曾是一名不知疲倦的社交名媛，她喜欢舞会和宴会派对，以及珠宝和高级定制服装。今年，《福布斯》杂志(Forbes)将她列为世界上最富有的女人，她的净资产达395亿美元。她是世界上规模和影响力最大的化妆品集团欧莱雅的大股东。
She was the only child of Eugène Schueller, a chemist who, in the kitchen of his Paris apartment in 1907, created a hair dye he called Auréale. His business, renamed L’Oréal in 1939, acquired Lancôme, Maybelline, Helena Rubinstein, Giorgio Armani and other brands, creating a giant that employs more than 77,000 people in 130 countries, had revenues of almost $26 billion in 2016 and is a prestigious economic engine for France.
她是药剂师厄让·许勒尔(Eugène Schueller)的独生女。1907年，许勒尔在自己巴黎公寓的厨房里创造了一种被他称为Auréale的染发剂。他的公司1939年更名为欧莱雅，后来又收购了兰蔻(Lancôme)、美宝莲(Maybelline)、赫莲娜(Helena Rubinstein)和阿玛尼(Giorgio Armani)等品牌，形成了一个化妆品帝国，它在130个国家拥有7.7万多名员工，2016年的营业额近260亿美元，是法国著名的经济引擎。
Liliane grew up in a cocoon of privilege and secrets. Her father was a Nazi sympathizer who acquired property taken from Jews in Germany, supported a French fascist organization in the 1930s that met at L’Oréal’s Paris headquarters, and founded a wartime movement against Bolshevism, Judaism and the Freemasons. He was spared from prosecution as a collaborationist by the intervention of political allies, including his future son-in-law, who claimed he had joined the Resistance and saved Jews.
利利亚娜在特权和秘密的笼罩下长大。她的父亲是纳粹同情者，曾在德国获得了从犹太人那里夺取的财产，在20世纪30年代支持法国的一个法西斯组织——该组织在欧莱雅的巴黎总部会晤——他还曾发起了一场反对布尔什维克主义、犹太教和共济会成员的战时运动。由于政治盟友的干预——其中包括他未来的女婿，后者声称自己曾加入抵抗运动，救过犹太人——他被免于作为通敌者起诉。
In 1950, Liliane Schueller married André Bettencourt, the scion of an old Norman Roman Catholic family. He had been a virulently anti-Semitic propagandist early in the war — a role hidden most of his life behind the sanitizing record of his Resistance exploits in the final stages of the war. For these, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre, made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor and promoted as a war hero in a political career that lofted him to prominence as a Cabinet minister in several governments.
1950年，利利亚娜·许勒尔与安德烈·贝当古(André Bettencourt)成婚，后者是一个古老的诺曼罗马天主教家族的后裔。安德烈在战争初期是一名恶毒的反犹太宣传者——在他一生的大部分时间里，这段历史被隐藏在他战争最后阶段的英勇抵抗事迹的粉饰记录里。因为那些事迹，他被授予英勇十字勋章(Croix de Guerre)，成为荣誉军团(Legion of Honor)成员，并在政治事业中将自己宣传成战争英雄，从而在多届政府中担任内阁部长。
Eugène Schueller died in 1957, leaving his daughter billions and his controlling interest in L’Oréal. She became a director, but took a largely passive role as her father’s successors expanded the company around the world, ballooning the value of her holdings.
厄让·许勒尔1957年去世，给女儿留下了数十亿美元，以及对欧莱雅的控制权。她成了董事，但父亲的继任者们在世界各地扩张公司时，她大多是扮演被动角色。
She lived in great opulence. Her principal home, an Art Moderne mansion behind cream walls and towering pines in Neuilly-sur-Seine, was filled with antique treasures and paintings by Monet, Matisse, Picasso and Mondrian. She owned properties in many countries, yachts in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, and an island in the Seychelles.
她的生活非常奢侈。她最主要的宅邸是位于塞纳河畔讷伊的一个现代艺术风格的豪宅，它藏在奶油色墙壁和高耸的松树背后，宅内充斥着古董以及莫奈(Monet)、马蒂斯(Matisse)、毕加索(Picasso)和蒙德里安(Mondrian)的画作。她在许多国家拥有物业，在地中海和加勒比海拥有游艇，在塞舌尔拥有一个小岛。
Her largesse was legendary. She gave millions to education, medical research, humanitarian projects, museums and the arts. She and her husband, who died in 2007, had long supported France’s conservative governments, and her soirées were a swirl of France’s social and political beau monde.
她的慷慨已经成为传奇。她曾捐赠数以百万美元计的资金，用于教育、医学研究、人道主义项目、博物馆和艺术。她和丈夫——后者于2007年去世——长期以来一直支持法国的保守派政府，她的社交宴会聚集了法国社会和政治界的名流。
Riches From Cosmetics
从化妆品中获得财富
Liliane Henriette Charlotte Schueller was born in Paris on Oct. 21, 1922, to Eugène Schueller and the former Louise Madeleine Berthe Doncieux. Her father, a university-trained chemist, had founded his company in 1909. His innovative dye had been a sensation: At a time when women could color their hair only black or red with natural dyes, it was one of the first stable synthetics to produce a range of subtle tints.
利利亚娜·亨利埃特·夏洛特·许勒尔于1922年10月21日出生于巴黎，父亲是厄让·许勒尔，母亲原名路易丝·玛德莱娜·贝尔特·当西厄(Louise Madeleine B erthe Doncieux)。她的父亲是受过大学教育的化学家，1909年创立了自己的公司。他的创新染发剂曾经引起轰动：当时女性只能用天然染料将头发染成黑色或红色，而他的染发剂属于第一批能产生一系列微妙色彩的稳定合成剂。
Liliane grew up with servants and tutors, a flow of VIPs through her spacious apartment on the Left Bank, Rolls-Royces and a sumptuous home overlooking the Brittany coast. Her mother died when she was 5, but her father took her along to his office on the Rue Royale and to his factories. At 15, she dabbled in an apprenticeship, learning to mix cosmetics and label bottles, but never seriously worked.
利利亚娜在仆人和家庭教师的陪伴下长大，众多著名人物络绎不绝地穿梭在她位于塞纳河左岸的宽敞公寓、各式劳斯莱斯汽车，以及俯瞰布列塔尼海岸的豪华宅邸之间。她5岁时，母亲去世，但父亲经常带她去皇家路的办公室和他的工厂。15岁时，她偶尔做做学徒，学习混合化妆品，给瓶子贴标签，但她从未正式工作过。
Her marriage to André Bettencourt added political luster to the family. Between 1954 and 1973, he served in the Cabinets of Pierre Mendes-France, Charles de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou, and in 1986 he was considered for prime minister by President François Mitterrand. He later joined L’Oréal and eventually became deputy chairman.
她与安德烈·贝当古的婚姻为这个家族增添了政治色彩。1954年至1973年，安德烈曾在皮埃尔·孟戴斯-弗朗斯(Pierre Mendes-France)、夏尔·戴高乐(Charles de Gaulle)和乔治·蓬皮杜(Georges Pompidou)的内阁任职，1986年，总统弗朗索瓦·密特朗(FrançoisMitterrand)曾考虑任命他做总理。后来，他加入了欧莱雅集团，最终担任副董事长。
But he resigned in 1994 after exposés revealed that he had joined a fascist group called La Cagoule (the Cowl) early in the war and had written 60 anti-Semitic articles for La Terre Française, a Nazi organ. He admitted writing them and voiced regret, citing “errors of youth.” He said he had tried to rectify his mistakes by joining the Resistance.
不过，1994年，他被爆出曾在战争初期加入过一个名叫“蒙头斗篷”(La Cagoule)的法西斯团体，并为纳粹出版物《法兰西土地》(La Terre Française)写了60篇反犹太文章。他承认写过那些文章，并表示后悔，称那是“年轻时犯的错”。他说他已努力通过加入抵抗运动纠正自己的错误。
It also emerged that Liliane’s father, besides backing La Cagoule in the 1930s, had founded the anti-Semitic Revolutionary Social Movement during the war and acquired property in Karlsruhe, Germany, that had been seized from Jews who were later sent to Auschwitz, according to a lawsuit by descendants of the original owners. It eventually became L’Oréal’s headquarters in Germany.
利利亚娜的父亲也被曝出，除了在20世纪30年代支持“蒙头斗篷”之外，还在战争期间创立反犹太的革命社会运动(Revolutionary Social Movement)。他还在德国卡尔斯鲁厄购买了从犹太人那里夺取的地产，那些犹太人后来被送到奥斯维辛集中营，相关地产原始所有者的后裔提起的诉讼披露称。那块地最终成了欧莱雅在德国的总部。
Liliane and André Bettencourt’s only child, Françoise, was born in 1953 and raised a Catholic. Unlike her mother, she was an intellectual, a pianist and author. She married Jean-Pierre Meyers, the grandson of a rabbi killed at Auschwitz, adopted her husband’s religion and raised her sons in Judaism.
利利亚娜和安德烈·贝当古唯一的孩子弗朗索瓦丝出生于1953年，作为天主教徒养大。和母亲不同，她是一名知识分子、钢琴师和作家。她嫁给了让-皮埃尔·梅耶斯(Jean-Pierre Meyers)，后者是在奥斯威辛集中营遇害的一名拉比的孙辈，她改信丈夫的宗教，并将儿子培养成了犹太教徒。
After her father’s death in 2007, Bettencourt-Meyers filed a criminal complaint alleging that Banier, a 60-year-old photographer, had manipulated her mother for lavish gain.
2007年，父亲去世后，贝当古-梅耶斯提起了刑事诉讼，指控60岁的摄影师巴尼耶操纵母亲，攫取巨额利益。
In October 2011, a judge ordered Bettencourt placed under her daughter’s guardianship after a medical evaluation found she had dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
2011年10月，在医疗评估证明贝当古患有失智症和阿尔茨海默病后，一名法官命令她由女儿监护。
Under the decision, Bettencourt’s assets, including more than 30 percent of the voting shares of L’Oréal, were placed in a trust controlled by her daughter, while her grandson, Jean-Victor Meyers, was named to guard her health and personal affairs. In 2012, Bettencourt gave up her seat on L’Oréal’s board of directors and her grandson was appointed to the board.
根据该裁决，贝当古的资产，包括在欧莱雅逾30%的投票权，被置于由她女儿控制的信托基金中。该裁决还指定她的外孙让-维克托·梅耶斯(Jean-Victor Meyers)维护她的健康和个人事务。2012年，贝当古放弃了她在欧莱雅董事会的席位，她的外孙被任命为董事会成员。
Bettencourt is survived by her daughter and Meyers, as well as another grandson.
贝当古在世的亲人包括女儿和两名外孙。
