A French court on Thursday convicted eight members of L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt's entourage of exploiting the frail billionaire, with one ordered to repay her 158 million euros ($170 million). Bettencourt's close confidant Francois-Marie Banier, a 67-year-old photographer who is godfather to actor Johnny Depp's daughter, was sentenced to three years in prison, six months of which were suspended.
Banier was also given a 350,000-euro ($380,000) fine on top of the 158 million euros in damages. Two men charged with overseeing Bettencourt's vast fortune, Patrice de Maistre and his successor Pascal Wilhelm, were both sentenced to 30 months in prison, 12 of which were suspended, and fines of 250,000 euros. The trial began in January with 10 people accused of exploiting the 92-year-old, who was declared unfit to run her own affairs in 2011 after a medical report showed she had suffered from "mixed dementia" and "moderately severe" Alzheimer's disease since 2006. However the start was delayed when Alain Thurin, a former nurse for Bettencourt, tried to hang himself on the eve of the trial in the woods near his house.