Pierre Cardin's great-nephew found a will naming him sole heir to an €800 million estate, and a Paris court ruled it was not a will

Pierre Cardin died in December 2020, aged 98, with no children. His holding company, subsidiaries, licences, brands and property in Paris and the Vaucluse were valued at €750 to €800 million on buyout offers. His great-nephew Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin, born in Padua in 1970, became general director in 2018 or 2019, as reports differ, and president in November 2020, about six weeks before Cardin died. The estate counts 22 heirs: nephews, nieces, great-nephews and great-nieces. Heirs holding 85 percent backed a buyout offer. On 13 July 2022 Basilicati-Cardin found a handwritten will dated 10 November 2016 at Cardin's Paris home. It named him sole heir. It had not been in the inventory made after the death. The great-nieces' lawyer called the find "opportune" and an attempt at "spoliation". In March 2023 the great-nieces filed a criminal complaint for abuse of weakness, aggravated breach of trust, fraud and forgery, and the Paris prosecutor opened an investigation. Basilicati-Cardin filed a defamation complaint on 21 June 2023 and says he wants to protect the brand, not sell it. On 25 January 2024 the Paris Court of Appeal ruled the document was not Cardin's will. The initials "PC" were on the tenth of its eleven lines, so they did not sign the text. The latest reporting found, February 2024, lists the investigation and other cases as still open.