 Headed by the brothers Jacques and Pierre Chaumet, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1987 with liabilities of 1.4 billion francs, eight times the annual turnover, in particular due to heavy losses in their diamond purchasing and resale business after the drop in prices worldwide.The two brothers were convicted of illegal banking activities for having opened accounts that promised high interest on the principal.Convicted of 'bankruptcy, fraud, breach of trust and illegal exercise of the banking profession', they were sentenced respectively to five years' imprisonment, of which two were mandatory, and four years, of which six months were mandatory, following the verdict handed down in December 1991.