This story appears in the July 19, 2015 issue of Forbes. Subscribe
For many years Georges Marciano was the brother most closely associated with the Guess brand, the creative genius behind its hit designs. He left abruptly in 1993, selling his stake to his brothers for $214.2 million. He no longer had anything to do with the brand. He was too busy spending his spoils on wine, art, cars, watches and jewelry, including a $16.2 million diamond he named after his daughter, Chloe.
His life started to unravel in 2003, when Marciano and his wife, Megan, divorced. In the following years he engaged in a series of nasty lawsuits with former employees, whom he accused of stealing from him. His chief bookkeeper testified that he had threatened to "ruin" her; another bookkeeper said his behavior had driven her to seek therapy and put her into a deep depression. The court ruled in the employees' favor. Georges subsequently decamped for Montreal in 2009, while those employees have struggled to collect money from him. Their dispute apparently remains ongoing. Georges, through a spokesman, refuses to comment.
These days Georges is trying to rekindle his design success--this time as a solo act. He opened a boutique bearing his name in Montreal last August in a historic part of town just steps from the beautiful Notre-Dame Basilica. Yet he hasn't totally put his old life behind him. He's suing Guess and a Kuwaiti firm, Universal Perfumes & Cosmetics, for $21 million over alleged trademark infringement. He says he spotted Universal Perfumes selling a line of perfumes bearing his name on its website and believes there's a link between Universal and Guess. He won't go into detail about why he suspects a connection, which isn't immediately apparent. Calls to Universal were not returned; a lawyer for his brother Paul Marciano--the last brother still at Guess and the company's current chief executive--says the lawsuit has "no merit" and adds that Guess hasn't had a perfume licensee for "many years."
