Édouard Stern

Édouard Stern (October 18, 1954 - February 28, 2005) was a French banker. Born in Paris, he was son of the banker Antoine Jean Elie Stern and Christiane Laroche,^[1] and was a personal friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.^[2] Relatively unknown outside finance circles until his death, Stern shot to worldwide fame when he was found shot dead in his apartment in Geneva, Switzerland, after a sadomasochistic bondage session wearing a head-to-toe latex catsuit.

Career

Édouard Stern was 38th in a list of France's richest citizens.^[3] He was born in 1954 to one of France’s wealthiest families, the owners of a private investment house called Banque Stern, and was known for his abrasive personality.^[4] He studied at the Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales in Paris. Together with his uncle, his ousted his father at Banque Stern and then sold the family bank. He then became a partner at Lazard Frères before creating his own investment fund, IRR Capital (the initials stand for "Investments Real Return").

In 2004 he was part of a suit brought against the French company Rhodia, accusing the company of false accounting and other malfeasance.^[5]

He was married to Béatrice David-Weil, who lived in New York with their three children. Béatrice David-Weil is a daughter of Michel David-Weill and a granddaughter of Pierre David-Weill, who were both partners in Lazard Frères.

Death

Édouard Stern was found shot to death on March 1, 2005 in Geneva. His body was found in his bedroom, clothed in a flesh-coloured head-to-toe latex catsuit with a dildo inserted in him, and shot four times; police initially thought the latex body suit may have been a ruse by the murderers to confuse the police, but it later became clear that Stern had been involved in a sadomasochistic bondage session.^[6][7][8] Swiss authorities arrested his long-time lover, Cécile Brossard, over the killing. Society columnist Taki Theodoracopulos has reported in The Spectator that Stern, in addition to having many girlfriends, was bisexual and had a boyfriend, and that he was a "rough trade" sex connoisseur.^[9]

Brossard, 40, was convicted and on June 18, 2009 was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison.^[10] In addition, the Swiss court ordered Brossard to pay Stern's children one Swiss franc for "moral damage".^[11] The Wall Street Journal has reported that "[Stern's] family hopes people will stop talking about the case".^[11] Cécile Brossard was freed on parole in November 2010, after spending five years in detention (including four years while awaiting trial).^[12]

Films

The French film "Une Histoire d'Amour''.^[13] (titled in English 'Tied') is a direct telling of the story, although the ending there could imply death by dehydration during the Mistress' long plane flight rather than by (a blank) gunshot. The story of Édouard Stern is cited as the inspiration for Olivier Assayas' 2008 film Boarding Gate.^[14] The death of Édouard Stern was directly parodied on the FX animated series Archer in the third season episode "Lo Scandalo".^[15]

References

External links

• Murdered banker was wearing a latex suit, newspapers report
• www.edouardstern.com