The Versailles Administrative Court of Appeal has upheld a tax reassessment against five-time Olympic judo champion Teddy Riner, ruling that two luxury cars his rental company owned — a Ferrari and a Rolls-Royce — were not business expenses but hidden compensation to the French champion, Sport 365 reported.
The decision, rendered Oct. 15, confirms the tax authorities’ position that Riner was the “exclusive driver” of both vehicles and that the costs attached to them constituted a benefit in kind granted by his company, according to reporting by L’Équipe cited in Sport 365’s account. The court went further, finding a “deliberate intention” on Riner’s part to understate his taxes, and stating that he “could not ignore” the vehicles’ expenses were not incurred for operations consistent with the company’s corporate purpose.
The case dates to a 2019 tax reassessment covering the years 2016 and 2017, linked to the luxury car rental firm Riner owns. Late last year, L’Informé reported that Riner had challenged the reassessment before the Cergy-Pontoise administrative tribunal — and lost. He then appealed, and the Versailles court’s Oct. 15 ruling again sided with the tax administration, according to L’Équipe.
The court’s reasoning on the cars
The tax authorities argued the two vehicles were never engaged in the company’s rental activity. Instead, they amounted to “remuneration and hidden advantages” for Riner, L’Informé reported. The Versailles appellate court echoed that framing, holding that the expenses did not serve the company’s stated business and that Riner was, for some of the vehicles, the exclusively designated driver, as L’Équipe quoted from the decision.
The ruling carries weight beyond the immediate reassessment because of how the court characterized Riner’s state of mind: the judges wrote that he had a “deliberate intention” to “minor” — that is, reduce — the tax owed, according to L’Équipe’s report of the Oct. 15 decision.
The defense: terrorism kept clients away
Riner’s lawyers offered a different explanation for the cars’ limited use. They argued the vehicles were rented out little in 2017 because of the geopolitical climate: the wave of terrorist attacks in France the year before had driven away foreign clientele, Le Figaro reported. That defense, however, did not persuade the Versailles court, which upheld the tax administration’s findings.
AFP confirms the decision, with names anonymized
Agence France-Presse confirmed that a decision in these terms was indeed issued Oct. 15 by the Versailles administrative court of appeal, though all personal and company names in the public version were anonymized. Neither Riner nor his lawyers had responded to requests for comment as of Tuesday afternoon, according to AFP.
Questions readers are asking
A Ferrari and a Rolls-Royce owned by Riner’s luxury car rental company, which the tax authorities said he drove exclusively.
The 2019 reassessment applied to 2016 and 2017, according to Le Figaro’s report of L’Informé’s earlier coverage.
The Versailles Administrative Court of Appeal issued its decision on Oct. 15, 2026.
No. AFP reported that Riner’s entourage had not responded to contact attempts as of Tuesday afternoon, and Sport 365 noted neither the judoka nor his lawyers had commented.
AFP reports an anonymized Oct. 15 ruling, and neither Teddy Riner nor his lawyers have issued any statement in the reporting to date.
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