Galliano gets 6,000 euro fine for anti-Semitic outburst (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) – A French court handed out a 6,000 euro ($8,421) suspended fine to John Galliano on Thursday after finding him guilty of anti-Semitic behavior, marking the end in a fall from grace for the former head designer of fashion house Dior.

For Galliano, whose worth is estimated in the millions of dollars, the penalty -- suspended for several years -- avoids any financial burden and is unlikely to constrain his liberty.

The fine, in line with what a prosecutor had recommended in June, falls short of the maximum sentence in such cases of a 22,000 euro fine and 6-month prison sentence.

"Despite the triple addiction from which he was suffering, he was lucid enough to be conscious of his acts," said the tribunal president, Anne-Marie Sauteraud, reading out the court's decision.

The court explained its relatively lenient decision by referring to Galliano's lack of criminal convictions, his previous regard for respect and tolerance and the treatment for drug and alcohol addiction he has sought since his arrest.

She said Galliano had told the court he would have wanted to be present for the verdict, but did not attend to avoid another confrontation with the press.

In addition to the fines, Galliano was sentenced to pay more than 5,000 euros in legal fees, plus 1 euro in symbolic damages, to each of the plaintiffs and civil parties in the case.

Yet the British designer has already paid for his behavior late last year at a chic Parisian bar -- where he was filmed hurling anti-Semitic insults at a couple -- by losing his top job at Dior and his stake in a franchise named after him.

The damage to his reputation, once among the untouchable in the world of high fashion, has also been dire, with peers ranging from Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld and U.S. actress Natalie Portman blasting his behavior in public.

Galliano, reported to have been through two rehabilitation programs, in Arizona and Switzerland, has made few public appearances since he appeared before a packed Parisian courthouse last June, speaking in a tiny voice about his triple addiction to alcohol, sleeping pills and tranquilizers.

The image of a man who, in his own words, had become a "ghost of himself" was enough to appease at least one plaintiff in the case, Geraldine Bloch, her lawyer told Reuters.

"She saw a man who was destroyed physically, a sick man," said lawyer Yves Beddouk. "For her and for me, this is already in the past, he has already been stripped of his status as an icon and that is the real punishment."

"The court's verdict will serve as an example," he added.

WHAT NEXT FOR DIOR?

Galliano, 50, made his first foray back into design last summer when he drew the wedding dress of British supermodel Kate Moss, a close friend.

"She dared me to be John Galliano again. I couldn't pick up a pencil. It's been my creative rehab," the U.S. edition of Vogue magazine quoted him as saying in its September issue.

But the fashion world has already moved on, its focus firmly on the name of the person who will succeed Galliano at the head of Dior's design team after a lackluster autumn/winter haute couture show -- the first without Galliano -- led by his longtime collaborator Bill Gaytten.

Sydney Toledano, chief executive of Dior, a subsidiary of French luxury giant LVMH, has promised to keep the identity of Galliano's successor a secret until the trial's end.

Trade newspaper Women's Wear Daily reported last month that U.S. designer Marc Jacobs, currently the top designer at Louis Vuitton, was in discussions with LVMH to replace Galliano as creative director for Dior.

The announcement of a successor is expected to follow shortly after the verdict.

(Editing by Brian Love, John Irish and Paul Casciato)

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Designer Galliano convicted in anti-Semitism case (AP)

PARIS – John Galliano's drunken anti-Semitic ravings cost him his job at Paris luxury house Christian Dior and gave him a criminal record but didn't land him in jail, a Paris court ruled Thursday.

The court found Galliano guilty on two counts of "public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity" — charges that carry a maximum sentence of six months in prison and fines of up to (EURO)20,000.

But the three-magistrate panel showed leniency, sentencing the legendary designer to a (EURO)6,000 ($8,400) suspended fine, which means it goes on Galliano's criminal record but he does not have to pay it. The court did not give Galliano prison time.

Presiding judge Anne-Marie Sauteraud said the magistrates' clemency was in part due to the fact that the designer had apologized to the court and the plaintiffs — who contended the designer showered them with a litany of racist and anti-Semitic insults in two separate run-ins at a Paris watering hole.

In testimony before the court in proceedings in June, Galliano said he didn't recall anything about the spats and explained he had been under the influence of a "triple addiction" to alcohol, barbiturates and sleeping pills. Still, he added he was sorry for "the sadness that this whole affair has caused."

Lawyers for both sides welcomed Thursday's ruling.

"It is a wise ruling," Galliano lawyer Aurelien Hamelle told journalists outside the courtroom. "Mr. Galliano is clearly relieved ... and asked me to apologize for him once again."

Galliano "is looking forward to a future of forgiveness and understanding, hopefully, and to put all of this behind him."

Yves Beddouk, an attorney representing one of the plaintiffs, said his client, Geraldine Bloch, was "perfectly satisfied."

Although Galliano will not have to fork out any money in fines, he was ordered to pay (EURO)16,500 ($23,200) in court fees for Bloch and two other plaintiffs, as well as five anti-racism associations. The court also ordered him to pay a symbolic (EURO)1 ($1.40) in damages to each.

Although Galliano's remarks would not be punishable in the U.S., France has strict laws aimed at curbing anti-Semitic and racist language. The laws were enacted in the decades following the Holocaust.

Galliano did not attend Thursday's ruling, and judge Sauteraud explained his absence as an attempt to keep him out of the media spotlight.

The saga of Galliano's undoing has riveted the fashion industry since allegations surfaced that he accosted a couple at Paris' hip La Perle cafe on Feb 24. The story made headlines worldwide, and soon another woman came forward with similar claims about a separate incident in the same cafe.

Days later, Britain's The Sun tabloid posted a video showing an inebriated Galliano insulting a fellow cafe client, slurring "I love Hitler," among other incendiary remarks.

As the video went viral, the house of Dior took swift action against the man it had long treated as icon, sacking Galliano days before the label's fall-winter 2011 runway show in March. Galliano was also later ousted from his eponymous label, also owned by Dior's parent company.

At his daylong trial in June, Galliano was a shadow of his former self. The man whose proud rooster-like post-fashion show strut had long been a thing of legend appeared stooped and addressed the court in a faltering, barely audible voice.

In his testimony, Galliano was contrite and humble, telling the three-judge panel that he was sorry "for the sadness that this whole affair has caused."

He said he'd kicked his addictions during a stint in a rehab clinic in Arizona and was "feeling much better." He said he'd resorted to the potent cocktail of drugs and alcohol to escape the ever-increasing pressures of the high-stakes fashion industry.

Galliano — a 50-year-old who was born Juan Carlos Galliano to a Spanish mother in the British Iberian enclave of Gibraltar — rejected any suggestion he was fundamentally racist, saying his multicultural-infused work spoke for itself.

His extravagant, theatrical collections culled their inspiration from cultures as far-flung as Kenya's Massai people and the geishas of Japan.

In the wake of the scandal, Galliano was replaced at his signature label by his longtime right-hand man and fellow Briton, Bill Gaytten, in June. Gaytten was behind the Dior haute couture collection presented in July to nearly universally disastrous reviews — though officials at the storied house have stressed he has not been appointed Dior creative director.

Rumors about Galliano's possible successor at Dior have swirled for months, with Lanvin's Alber Elbaz, Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci and Colombian-born star Haider Ackermann emerging as possible contenders. A report last month in Women's Wear Daily cited unnamed sources as saying that New York designer Marc Jacobs was in talks for the plum gig. Neither Jacobs nor Dior or parent company LVMH would comment on the report.

The fashion industry is waiting to see whether Galliano will manage to rehabilitate his image and make a comeback, much as supermodel Kate Moss did after images of her taking cocaine hit newspapers the world over.

Asked by journalists about Galliano's plans, attorney Hamelle said only that his client is "looking forward to the future" and "will continue to care for himself."

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Galliano to tell trial he lost it on booze & drugs (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) – Fashion designer John Galliano will tell a Paris court that multiple addictions to drugs and alcohol led him to lose all self-control when he defends himself against charges of anti-Semitic behavior on Wednesday.

Galliano's trial is the latest chapter in a saga that began in February when Galliano was questioned by French police after a couple accused him of hurling drunken racist and anti-Semitic abuse at them on the terrace of a cafe.

The February 24 incident -- combined with a video in which an apparently inebriated Galliano was filmed telling a woman he loves Hitler and that her parents might have been gassed in a Nazi death camp -- led to the designer's dismissal from his post as creative director for Parisian fashion house Dior.

Magistrates were expected to arrive at a decision quickly in the trial, which pits Galliano, 50, against two accusers -- one a woman who claimed to have never heard of the British designer before their February encounter, and another whose accusations refer back to events last October.

If found guilty, Galliano faces a six-month jail sentence and a fine of up to 22,000 euros ($31,517). Precedent in similar cases suggests that a more likely outcome is a smaller fine, a few thousand euros at most.

The lawyer for one of Galliano's accusers, museum curator Geraldine Bloch, said she would seek symbolic damages of 1 euro and publication of the court's decision in two fashion magazines, Elle and Vogue, and French daily Le Figaro.

Her lawyer, Yves Beddouk, told Reuters on Monday that his client was interested not in Galliano's money, but in getting him to acknowledge the alleged anti-Semitic tirade publicly and make a show of contrition which befits his reputation.

Galliano's lawyer told Reuters this week that the designer will say he has no recollection of the rants for which he has been charged, was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and had lost control over his words and behavior.

The designer has repeatedly apologized for his remarks on the video which emerged online after the February 24 incident.

Galliano's lawyer Aurelien Hamelle said that he will call up a toxicology expert to testify that the designer -- triply addicted to alcohol, the sedative Valium and powerful sleeping pills -- would have been in a state of utter abandon, completely free of any inhibitions.

Galliano, who left France shortly after the incident to receive treatment for substance abuse in the United States, is also expected to say that he is not a racist nor an anti-Semite.

As part of his character defense, lawyers will present letters to the court depicting the designer as a model of tolerance and openness who opened his studio to people from all over the world with no regard for their origin.

Plaintiffs will present Galliano as a mean drunk who exposed his anti-Semitic and racist views when under the influence of alcohol, and had no respect for common people whom he believed were trespassing on his territory.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Designer Galliano in court over anti-Semitic outburst (AFP)

PARIS (AFP) – Fashion designer John Galliano faced trial on charges that he launched anti-Semitic tirades in a Paris bar, which the fallen superstar is expected to blame on drug and alcohol addiction.

The 50-year-old couturier -- considered one of the finest fashion designers of his generation -- could face a sentence of six months in jail and a fine of 22,500 euros ($32,000) if convicted.

The British designer was arrested on February 24 after a couple in La Perle cafe in Paris's fashionable Marais district alleged he had subjected them to a stream of anti-Semitic abuse.

Galliano has issued an apology for his behaviour, but insisted it was not anti-Semitic. He has lodged a legal counter-suit against the couple in the first incident, alleging defamation.

Dior sacked their star designer, saying his alleged behaviour and language was "particularly odious," sending shockwaves through the tightly-knit Paris fashion world.

Five people are expected to testify in the trial, including two women who were sat next to him during the February 24 incident.

Galliano's lawyer has said varying testimonies show that there is some doubt about what was actually said.

Galliano himself "does not remember because he was in an altered state," said lawyer Aurelien Hamelle.

What he knows is that his alleged insults "do not reflect what he thinks. He's not anti-Semitic or racist," he said.

The flamboyant designer has "been doing nothing" since his spectacular fall from grace, Hamelle added.

"He's treating his addiction to alcohol and medication. He will think about his professional future" after the trial, he said.

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New legal headache for Galliano as lawyer sues (AFP)

PARIS (AFP) – Shamed fashion designer John Galliano faced a new legal headache on Monday after his former lawyer lodged lawsuits against him alleging defamation and slander.

The British couturier was sacked as French fashion house Dior's creative director in February after being caught on film subjecting cafe patrons to a drunken anti-Semitic tirade.

While criminal charges relating to the outburst are pending, and Galliano could face a year in jail and a 22,500 euro fine, in April he lodged his own suit accusing lawyer Stephane Zerbib of embezzlement.

Galliano accuses his former adviser of siphoning almost three million euros ($4.3 million dollars) from his account and that of one of his firms, according to French legal sources.

But on Monday, Zerbib counter-attacked with two suits accusing Galliano of smearing him with the allegations, again according to judicial sources.

According to a copy of the suit seen by AFP, Zerbib insists Galliano had been made fully aware of all transactions carried out on his bank accounts and had never expressed concern about any transfers of money.

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