Dutch Louis Vuitton stores named in money laundering probe

July 18, 2025 Photo: Depositphotos.com

The Dutch public prosecution service has named fashion brand Louis Vuitton as a suspect in a money laundering investigation involving around €3 million in suspicious cash purchases, the AD reported on Friday.

The case centres on a Chinese woman from Lelystad who repeatedly bought luxury goods with large amounts of cash in Dutch stores belonging to the French fashion house, the paper said.

The woman allegedly kept each transaction just below the €10,000 reporting threshold, which allowed her to avoid triggering mandatory checks by retailers. Dutch law requires shops to carry out client verification and report cash payments above that amount.

Prosecutors said Louis Vuitton failed to take appropriate steps, such as asking for identification or questioning the pattern of purchases. One staff member is suspected of actively helping the woman structure her payments to stay under the legal limit, the paper said.

The woman is accused of sending the products to China via parcel services as part of so-called Daigou trading, a system in which buyers purchase luxury goods abroad to avoid high import taxes in China. The prosecution department said this method is commonly used by criminal underground bankers to launder illicit funds.

Investigators believe the suspect received large sums from a convicted underground banker to fund her purchases. The full scale of the Daigou market is unclear, but consultancy firm Re-Hub estimated its value at over €74 billion at the end of 2023.

The prosecution department now argues that Louis Vuitton made itself too easily available for abuse by failing to scrutinise the transactions. By not acting more firmly, the fashion label may have facilitated the laundering of criminal proceeds.

It is not yet known whether Louis Vuitton will face prosecution. The department is still considering whether to take the case to court, and proceedings are not expected to resume until next year, the paper said.

Louis Vuitton has not responded to the allegations and was not available for comment, the newspaper said. The company has four official outlets in the Netherlands.

Court cases Money laundering Retail

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