France’s highest court last week dealt a significant blow to former adidas owner Bernard Tapie and his chances of recouping damages from the 1993 sale of the athletic footwear and apparel maker. The ruling by the court overturns a recommendation last year by a lower Appeals Court that Tapie, who had sold the company after taking a government minister position, should be awarded €135 million for losses incurred in the sale.

The Appeals Court ruled last September that Credit Lyonnais and subsidiary the Societe de Banques Occidentales, or SDBO, had defrauded Tapie by knowingly underestimating the value of adidas when it sold it. Tapie, who was unable to pay back the money he had borrowed from Credit Lyonnais to buy adidas, had given the subsidiary the authority to sell his adidas stake in order to avoid charges of a conflict of interest after he joined the government as towns minister in 1993.

It was charged that SDBO bought the shares itself through a series of other companies then sold them to Robert-Louis Dreyfus in December 1994 for €708 million. According to published reports it was later established that the bank and Mr. Dreyfus had illicitly agreed to the sale before the original SBDO transaction with Tapie.

Mr. Tapie had initially sued the bank and the government for €990 million.