CONFIDENTIEL
François de Combret, l'homme de l'ombre qui a propulsé Bernard Arnault vers l'empire LVMH

Collaborateur de Valéry Giscard d'Estaing et associé de Lazard, François de
Combret s'est éteint le 8 octobre à 84 ans. Son rôle dans l'acquisition de Boussac
par Bernard Arnault en 1984, ainsi que ses conseils à des leaders africains aux côtés
de George Soros, montre un homme trouble. Enquête.
 

OCTOBRE 16 2025 • 1:05 PM
5 MIN DE LECTURE PARTAGER

Les puissants disparaissent souvent dans l’ombre, la mort de François Polge de
Combret, survenue le 8 octobre 2025 à Londres, passe presque inaperçue. Pourtant,
ce banquier d’affaires, figure discrète des coulisses de la finance internationale,
n’était pas un anonyme. Ami et collaborateur de George Soros, il est surtout l’homme qui a
ouvert à Bernard Arnault les portes de la fortune colossale de LVMH.

Une fortune bâtie sur un coup d’État financier : le rachat à prix d’ami du groupe Boussac,
propriétaire de Christian Dior, qui a permis à Arnault d’escroquer l’État français, de licencier
des milliers de salariés et de s’emparer d’un joyau du luxe français. Mais au-delà de ces
magouilles industrielles, de Combret nourrissait une passion étrange, presque
obsessionnelle, pour les petits orphelins roumains – une "aide" humanitaire qui masquait
des lobbys d’adoption controversés, flirtant avec les accusations de trafic d’enfants.

Herdecke: Emergency personnel stand next to a rescue helicopter. The newly elected mayor of Herdecke, Iris Stalzer (SPD), was found in her apartment with life-threatening injuries.dpa

Shocking new details have emerged in the case of the knife attack on Herdecke's mayor-elect, Iris Stalzer. It's now known what drove the adopted daughter to commit the horrific act. Stalzer's behavior is unusual in one respect.

Shocking details of the investigation are emerging in the drama surrounding the knife attack on the mayor-elect of Herdecke. According to the report, the bloody conflict between the newly elected SPD politician Iris Stalzer and her 17-year-old adopted daughter in the basement of their apartment building is said to have lasted for an extended period. 

New details: Iris Stalzer didn't want to betray her daughter

When adoptees are placed in the right home, they are given chances they might never have had

I never understood adoption jokes growing up. As an adoptee, I could not grasp what was wrong with being adopted. To me, being adopted meant that I had a loving family who wanted me and loved me just the same as any biological child.

It was not until much later that I understood why adoption jokes were made: they only focused on the negative side of adoption. People focus on the implication that you were not wanted or are not related to your adoptive parents, both of which I see as largely inconsequential and not entirely true.

Yes, our biological parent(s) gave us up for adoption. Yes, we are not biologically related to our adoptive parents. But neither of those facts makes adoptive families less of a family.

These implications were personal for me, as my biological mother, Irma, gave me up for adoption because she was a pregnant, unwed woman in predominantly Catholic Guatemala. This, coupled with the fact that she was working to support herself most of the time, meant that she could not raise me and was ostracized by her family due to my very existence. She realized that giving me up for adoption would likely give me the very best chance at a good life, so she made an act of love, however painful it might have been.

Rio Tinto’s Simandou lobbyist dies waiting for AFP corruption probe

Peter KerResources reporter

Oct 15, 2025 – 5.00am

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HELP a child eV – Children find parents – was founded by adoptive parents at the founding meeting on January 24, 2004.

All board members have adopted one or more children from abroad.

To achieve goals large and small, we need strong employees who, with their personal commitment, guarantee that an organization such as HELP a child eV - Children find parents - which pursues exclusively non-profit and charitable purposes, can operate and exist successfully.

All work on the association's board is carried out on a voluntary basis and is supported by numerous members and adoptive parents who volunteer.

She even had her U.S. passport on her.

ICE agents kidnapped a U.S. citizen in Chicago who had just finished working a double shift because she didn’t “look” American to them.

Maria Greeley, 44, was on her way home from her job at Beach Bar earlier this month when she was surrounded, seized, and zip-tied by three ICE masked agents without cause or warning and interrogated for an hour. ICE determined she was an undocumented immigrant because she didn’t “look like” a Greeley. Greeley, who was born in Illinois, is Latina and adopted. She had her U.S. passport on her when she was detained.

“I am Latina and I am a service worker,” Greeley said. “I fit the description of what they’re looking for now.... They said this isn’t real, they kept telling me I’m lying, I’m a liar,” she told The Chicago Tribune. “I told them to look in the rest of my wallet, I have my credit cards, my insurance.”

Ask for explanation

Ask for explanationon the role of the Flemish Centre for Adoption in the investigation into abuses in historical adoptions

436 (2025-2026)

from Jeremie Vaneeckhout to Minister Caroline Gennez

• View document sheet

It wasn't just nuns who traded in babies, whether or not they had been forcibly relinquished, as seen in the VTM series "De Nonnen" (The Nuns). Fathers and brothers were also active in this industry, in which the Ghent adoption agency De Vreugdezaaiers played a key role. Marie (59) was born in a French hospital to a young Brabant mother and was smuggled by a priest to a home in Hasselt. "No one was allowed to know anything about the pregnancy."

Source rv

This article was written by Jan Stevens Published on October 13, 2025

It is with great joy and gratitude that we announce that HELP a child eV has received official approval from Germany to broker international adoptions from Romania. This is a moving and important step for us – but especially for the children, to whom we hope to give new prospects and a loving home.

Our application is currently being reviewed by the Romanian authorities in Bucharest. We very much hope to be able to accompany the first family on this special journey starting in January 2026.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who supports us and walks this path with us.

The international adoption of a child from Romania is regulated by Article 60 of the Law

Iris Stalzer had apparently felt threatened by her adopted daughter for some time. According to a report, the mayor of Herdecke visited a police station one day before the knife attack. The incident was again related to domestic violence.

Iris Stalzer, the mayor-elect of Herdecke, who was seriously injured in a knife attack, apparently contacted the police for help the day before the attack. According to information from the "Bild" newspaper, the 57-year-old SPD politician felt threatened by her adopted daughter and feared for her life.

On Monday, Stalzer reportedly appeared in person at the police station in Wetter/Ruhr. Her husband was away on a business trip at the time. "There were two personal contacts that day," a police spokesperson confirmed to the newspaper. "A case has been opened, and all necessary measures have been taken."