Swimming: the Mulhouse prosecutor's office requires prison time for the Horter family, suspected of having embezzled hundreds of thousands of euros

La famille Horter avait été renvoyée au tribunal pour 64 infractions. MAXPPP – Vincent VOEGTLIN

Le parquet de Mulhouse a requis jeudi des peines de prison avec sursis assorti d’amendes au procès de la famille Horter, dirigeante du Mulhouse Olympic Natation et soupçonnée de détournements de fonds à hauteur de 768 000 euros.

Edwige Roux-Morizot, the public prosecutor of Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin), requested one year in prison, 40,000 euros fine, 10 years fine ;rsquo;ban from managing a business and five years of ineligibility against Franck Horter, the president of the club, and his brother Lionel, the main coach.

Recognizing "the sporting exploits that everyone knows" of Mulhouse Olympic Natation, club of the first world champion French swimmer, Roxana Maracineanu, in 1998, she however denounced the emancipation, by the Horter family, "all the rules, social, fiscal, accounting rules".

Also read: Swimming: suspected of having embezzled "hundreds of thousands of euros", the trial of the Horter family began in Mulhouse

She requested the same penalties, with the exception of a fine reduced to 30,000 euros, against Marjorie Hauswirth-Horter, wife of Lionel, whom she succeeded in 2015 as manager of the commercial company "M.O.N. Club", which took care of leisure activities in the "Swimming Training Center", a public swimming pool made available to the society and the club by the ;mulhouse agglomeration.

"Marjorie Horter was the manager of an LLC. If she doesn't know how to do it, she doesn't do it. The responsibility that a manager must have in mind is the development of his company, not to pay for services without asking for justification", declared the magistrate, in reference to the accusations of paying bills without compensation for the benefit of her husband and her brother-in-law.

The family recognizes amateurism in accounting management

Finally, the prosecutor requested a six-month suspended prison sentence against Marie-Octavie Horter, the mother of Franck and Lionel. Following a preliminary investigation which lasted more than three years, the four members of the Horter family were referred to the criminal court for 64 offenses.

Also read: Swimming: the Mulhouse agglomeration sounds the charge during the trial of the Horter family, suspected of embezzlement

If the family was able to recognize a certain "amateurism" in the accounting management of two structures, the’ association and the commercial company, she denied any dishonest intention. Their lawyers have announced their intention to plead for acquittal.