Stern murder trial combines sex and wealth

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - A French woman goes on trial this week for the murder of her French financier lover in a crime combining sex, power and wealth that rocked Geneva's discreet banking circles.

Edouard Stern, 50, the 38th richest man in France, whose friends included President Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist politician Laurent Fabius, was shot dead in his penthouse apartment in the Swiss city on February 28, 2005.

His body, with four bullet holes, was found clad from head-to-toe in a flesh-coloured latex suit, which police say was linked to sado-masochistic sex.

Cecile Brossard, his long-time lover and an artist who is now 40, confessed to killing Stern with his own pistol after an argument over $1 million (627,000 pound).

Stern put the money into her Swiss account after she demanded it saying it would be "proof of his love for her" and then blocked it after she refused to return it, court documents obtained by Reuters show.

"One million dollars is a lot of money to pay for a whore," Brossard quoted Stern as saying just before she shot him, according to defence lawyer Alec Reymond.

"That was extremely humiliating, it marked the end of all the hopes she had placed in their relationship." Reymond told Reuters. "She is very eager to explain herself."

Brossard told investigators the couple had a history of sado-masochistic sex since meeting in 2001.