Perfume and fashion heiress Arlette Ricci was found guilty of tax fraud by a Paris court on Monday 13 April after a high-profile trial.
Ricci, the 73-year-old granddaughter of designer Nina Ricci, was sentenced to three years in jail with two of them suspended. She was also ordered to pay a fine of €1m (£0.7m, $1.05m) and faced the confiscation of two properties worth €4m following the conviction.
The ruling means Ricci is the first famous name to be brought down in the so-called Swiss leaks scandal, which erupted when a former HSBC employee leaked lists of people who used the services of HSBC bank in Switzerland.
Ricci was tried on charges that she hid more than $22m from the French tax authorities using accounts and offshore vehicles.
After the verdict was read aloud, Riccis lawyer Jean-Marc Fedida said he had not decided whether to appeal the decision and that he could instead ask the judge whether the heiress could serve the prison term wearing an electronic bracelet.
Arlette Riccis daughter Margot Vignat, 51, was also convicted and handed an eight-month suspended sentence.
The case was brought after Herve Falciani shared thousands of names of suspected tax evaders with authorities in France in 2008. The French government has shared the list with other governments and more trials are expected to follow.
The French authorities last week placed the UK-based HSBC under formal investigation over alleged tax offences by its Swiss private banking arm. The bank said the claim had no legal basis.
