In 1996, a judicial investigation was opened against him at the "Tribunal de grande instance" of Chaumont. He appeared before the Criminal Court of this city in September 1999 for tax evasion. Knowing that the prosecution had asked him against three years imprisonment and 20-year ban on company management, he is sentenced the 19th of December 1999, date of his birthday, to 18 months imprisonment suspended and a ban from managing a company for 3 years and a fine large tax.