IMF's Christine Lagarde Found Guilty In French Negligence Case | No Fine Or Jail Time

Christine Lgarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, at a court in Paris.

The career of France's Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, could be in jeopardy after a French court found her guilty of criminal charges linked to her time as France's finance minister.

While finding her gulty of criminal charges, the judge hearing the case declined to impose a fine or any jail time for Lagarde, who began her second five-year term at the IMF in February. Lagarde joined the IMF after Dominiqe Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director. DSK, as he is known, was accused of sexually assaulting a maid in a New York City hotel.

Even the prosecutor in the case described it as a weak one seriously lacking in evidence that Lagarde misused public funds as France's finance minister. Jean-Claude Marin wanted judges last Thursday that they were treading a fine line between the law and politics, being guilty themselves of confusing 'criminal negligence' with 'making a bad political decision'.

Gerry Rice, a spokesperson for the Washington-based IMF said the fund's executive board would meet later on Monday to consider options. The IMF is currently under scrutiny for its role in the Greek bailout and is deeply concerned about its future in a Donald Trump administration.

The New York Times writes that Lagarde's departure from the fund is considered unlikely, as the executive board has stood firmly behind her.

The case against Ms. Lagarde centered on Bernard Tapie, a former entertainer and owner of Adidas who had previously been jailed on corruption charges. Mr. Tapie accused the lender Crédit Lyonnais, in which the French state had a stake at the time, of cheating him when it oversaw the sale of his share in the sportswear empire in 1993. Years of costly legal battles ensued.

In 2007, Ms. Lagarde sent the dispute to a three-person private arbitration authority that awarded Mr. Tapie more than 400 million euros, or $420 million at current exchange rates, in damages and interest, to be paid by the state.

Lagarde's neglicency verdict was not related to her failure to appeal the arbitration verdict but for sending the case of arbitration in the first place.

Updated: IMF Chief Christine Lagarde Will Keep Her Job Despite Conviction Fortune

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{Quote}: "In January Lagarde met with Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, whose country is not only fighting terrorism but suffering from deep-seeded corruption and plummeting oil prices. Newsweek points out that Boko Haram's six-year insurgency has had a devastating impact on Nigeria's economy. It's estimated that it will cost more than $1 billion to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the group. But no attempts to rebuild or develop the economy can happen without some degree of stability in northern Nigeria."