To absorb is not to purge: the absorbing assumes the consequences of the faults, even penal ones, of the absorbed

When a company commits a breach that may be the subject of criminal, legal or administrative sanctions, before being taken over by another company and being dissolved, can the acquiring company be condemned for the breaches previously committed by the absorbed?

The answer is yes. In other words, in a group of companies, the dissolution-absorption of a subsidiary does not make it possible to erase the consequences of prohibited behavior.

This was judged for several types of fault, and the exception that existed in criminal matters has just disappeared since a judgment of November 25, 2020 of the criminal chamber of the court of cassation (…)

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