Born in France · Nationality French — Business / finance / tech

Stéphane Richard

Documented profile covering 4 controversies, including “Tapie–Crédit lyonnais case: Acquitted in 2019, convicted on appeal in 2021, judgment quashed in 2023, then convicted of negligence in 2025” and “Abuse of dominant position: Orange fined €350 million in business telecommunications market”.

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Profile No. 2293 · Updated on 12 October 2026

4Documented controversies+ 1 background event

15Sources

0Formal charge · all time

0Conviction

§ Legal statuses reflect the documented sources as of the date shown; they replace neither court decisions nor the presumption of innocence. Counts are not a rating. Methodology

I. Documented controversies

2008–2025

Tapie–Crédit lyonnais case: Acquitted in 2019, convicted on appeal in 2021, judgment quashed in 2023, then convicted of negligence in 2025

Conviction — against a third party

Protagonist not prosecuted — these proceedings are not counted in their formal charges or convictions.

Stéphane Richard, formerly Christine Lagarde's chief of staff at the Ministry of the Economy during the Tapie arbitration, faced a lengthy sequence of decisions: acquittal in 2019, an appeal conviction in 2021 for complicity in embezzlement of public funds, partial quashing in 2023, then a retrial in 2025.

Legal status — source text: Convicted of negligence at the 2025 retrial, further appeal not verified
Attribution: Directly implicated
Role of the person profiled: Protagonist not prosecuted

Sources · 5

[1]
Le MondeArbitrage du Crédit lyonnais : Bernard Tapie relaxéPressHigh reliability
[2]
Le MondeLe PDG d'Orange Stéphane Richard quittera son poste après sa condamnation dans l'affaire TapiePressHigh reliability
[3]
L'ÉquipeAffaire Tapie-Crédit Lyonnais : la Cour de cassation ordonne un nouveau procès pour Stéphane RichardPressHigh reliability
[4]
20 MinutesAffaire Tapie : Stéphane Richard condamné à six mois de prison avec sursisPressHigh reliability
[5]
Le Club des JuristesAffaire Tapie-Crédit Lyonnais : Stéphane Richard condamné à six mois de prison avec sursisHigh reliability

Last verified: 15 September 2026

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December 2015

Abuse of dominant position: Orange fined €350 million in business telecommunications market

No legal proceedings

The French Competition Authority fined Orange 350 million euros for several anti-competitive practices in the business telecommunications market, some of which had begun well before Richard took charge of the group.

State of the evidence: Documented
Attribution: Institutional responsibility

Sources · 1

[1]
Autorité de la concurrenceCommunications électroniques : marché des entreprisesRegulatory authorityVery high reliability

Last verified: 15 September 2026

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April–May 2014

2014 cyberattack: Data of more than one million Orange customers stolen

No legal proceedings

Orange acknowledged a cyber intrusion compromising the personal data of approximately 1.3 million customers and prospective customers, a few months after an earlier incident.

State of the evidence: Confirmed
Attribution: Institutional responsibility

Sources · 1

[1]
Le MondeOrange de nouveau victime d'une cyberattaque massivePressHigh reliability

Last verified: 15 September 2026

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6–7 July 2012

2012 nationwide Orange outage: Millions of subscribers lose service and compensation announced

Civil / administrative proceedings

A major Orange mobile network outage deprived millions of customers of voice, SMS and data services for several hours. Stéphane Richard apologised and the operator announced compensation.

State of the evidence: Documented
Attribution: Directly implicated

Sources · 3

[1]
Zonebourse / ReutersFrance-Le réseau mobile d'Orange touché par une panne massiveNews agencyHigh reliability
[2]
Business Recorder / AFPTelecom giant Orange apologises after nine-hour blackoutPressHigh reliability
[3]
Le PointOrange propose à ses clients une journée de gratuité pour s'excuser de la pannePressHigh reliability

Last verified: 15 September 2026

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II. Documented background

Documented biographical or institutional milestones (elections, appointments, foundings, acquisitions…). These are not controversies and are not counted as such.

2017–2023
Orange Bank: Strategic project launched in 2017 then abandoned after substantial losses
Stéphane Richard strongly championed Orange's diversification into banking. Orange Bank's launch was delayed in 2017 for technical reasons, after which the project failed to reach the expected break-even point and Orange eventually decided to withdraw from retail banking.
Sources · 5
1. Le Monde — Le lancement d'Orange Bank reporté à septembre
2. Yahoo News / AFP — Orange Bank goes online across France
3. Le Monde — Orange tire un trait sur sa banque en ligne
4. Le Figaro — Orange Bank, histoire d'un fiasco
5. Orange — Orange announces completion of strategic review of Orange Bank

III. Constellation of documented links

Linked profile (portrait or initials) — click to open it
Line width: number of documented references
Hover over or tap a line: controversies and sources

Two profiles are linked when a documented controversy of one names the other. The link points to that controversy and its sources; it does not indicate a personal relationship.

List of documented links (2)

IV. Has something changed?

A new court decision, a missing source, a mistake? Tell us what should be updated: every request is read by the editorial team.

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I. Documented controversies

Sources · 5

Sources · 1

Sources · 1

Sources · 3

II. Documented background

Orange Bank: Strategic project launched in 2017 then abandoned after substantial losses

III. Constellation of documented links

IV. Has something changed?

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