http://www.france24.com/en/20161212-imf-chief-lagarde-trial-payout-french-tycoon-tapieLagarde, the first woman to be appointed IMF chief, is being tried for her role in a 2008 arbitration ruling that handed 403 million euros ($425 million) to a French business magnate, Bernard Tapie, an ally of then president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Tapie, a flamboyant tycoon and former TV star, had sued French bank Credit Lyonnais for its handling of the sale of his majority stake in sportswear company Adidas in the mid-1990s.
When Lagarde became finance minister in 2007, the lengthy legal battle between Tapie and the public bank was still unresolved, and she ordered it to be settled through an unusual private arbitration panel, instead of regular courts, against the advice of her own staff.
The choice of arbitration proved disastrous for the state by leading to the massive payout to Tapie from public funds.