Judge Van Ruymbeke from the financial division of the Court of Paris recently made headlines during the affaire Cahuzac (named after the former official of the French Ministry of Finance). He also has on his desk a less publicized case: the end of the Sygma agency. It is the story of millions of photographs covering the final decades of the 20th century.

Next month, it will be a year since Judge Ruymbeke was charged by the french State Attorney with investigation of the complaint against Corbis, filed by Jean-Philippe Hugot on behalf of five former Sygma photographers, for fraudulent bankruptcy, the misuse of company property and breach of trust in the bankruptcy of Corbis-Sygma.

According to the complainants, the judge has not been idle, having met several times with Corbis-Sygma manager Stephan Biberfeld, the administrative receiver and the photographers. What will happen next? A meeting with Steve Davis, Tony Rojas, Franck Perier, the formers heads of Corbis-Sygma? Or Garry Shenk, the current CEO of Corbis? Or Bill Gates, the owner of Corbis? The judge has yet to respond to questions submitted to him on April 24.

 

Michel Puech

Publish in Le Journal de la Photographie 2013/05/14

 

Read the full article in french Dernière révision le 3 mars 2024 à 6:26 pm GMT+0100 par Michel Puech

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