Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick arrives at Altrad amidst a crowd of people

The mood at Altrad’s first board meeting, which will be attended by Sean Fitzpatrick, is expected to be somewhat lunar. The former All Blacks rugby player and captain was recently appointed to the board of Altrad Investment Authority (AIA), the holding company of the business services group and sponsor of the New Zealand team since 2022. The issue: its founder Mohamed Altrad was sentenced on December 13 by the Paris Criminal Court alongside the president of the French Rugby Federation Bernard Laporte. They are accused of entering into a corruption agreement in 2017. The businessman, who is also the owner of the Montpellier Hérault Rugby club, was found guilty of active corruption, influence peddling and misuse of company assets. He was given an eighteen-month suspended sentence, a fine of €50,000, and an additional two-year disqualification and ban from running a business…