An Atos auditor class action involving 850 retail and institutional shareholders from the US, UK and France is seeking €180m (£153m) from Deloitte and Grant Thornton over their sign-off of the IT group’s accounts before its near-collapse. The claim, led by Paris-based law firm Vermeille & Co Avocats, covers shareholders who purchased Atos shares between 21 February 2018 and 25 March 2024, whether or not they still hold them.
Sophie Vermeille, partner and founder of Vermeille & Co Avocats, accused the French entities of both Deloitte and Grant Thornton of professional negligence and misconduct in certifying Atos accounts across that six-year period. The claim targets the legal entities that signed the accounts, not individual auditors.
The Atos Auditor Class Action and What It Alleges
The filing alleges ‘serious faults and negligence’ in the auditors’ statutory duties, including in connection with the publication of financial statements, according to Litigation Finance Insider. The official FAQ for the action specifies that the central allegation is that the auditors certified financial statements containing numerous alleged errors.
Vermeille told City AM: ‘Unlike the UK, in France, shareholders can sue statutory auditors. In France, there are many soft laws that make it seem that there is strong corporate governance, so there needs to be accountability for these laws to work.’
Vermeille & Co Avocats has secured litigation funding to cover the costs of the claim. The firm has also separately sued Atos for access to seven years of internal documents in support of its case against the auditors. A French court granted that application, though Atos has appealed the ruling. A hearing on document access is scheduled for September.
Vermeille described the court’s decision as ‘a massive win’, adding that the firm ‘demonstrated to the judge that the scale of the alleged fraud in this case was serious enough that they supported our application for disclosure of Atos’ documents for the last seven fiscal years.’
How Atos Fell and What Followed
Atos was once a flagship of the French technology sector. It served as a cybersecurity partner for the Olympic Games, a supplier to the French military, and, in the UK, provided digital systems for the National Grid, the NHS, the Ministry of Defence and the BBC.
The group’s share price fell sharply in 2024, dropping from roughly €519 at the start of the year to €26 by end-December, as it buckled under €3.9bn in debt. In June 2024, Atos Group announced it had reached agreement on financial restructuring terms with a group of banks and bondholders. As part of its ‘Genesis’ restructuring plan, the company cut its global headcount by 19%, including roles in the UK.
The near-collapse triggered investigations on multiple fronts. France’s national financial crime prosecutor, the Parquet National Financier (PNF), and the country’s markets regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, both opened proceedings. The PNF, established under a 2013 law, holds jurisdiction over serious financial fraud, market offences including insider trading, and money laundering, according to a Ropes & Gray briefing on the prosecutor’s remit.
Vermeille & Co Avocats describes the action as the first securities-law shareholder class action of this scale in France, and the cross-border coalition of claimants gives it an international dimension that French courts have not previously handled at this size.
Grant Thornton, when approached, declined to comment on its client given the ongoing investigation, but said: ‘Grant Thornton has always conducted its audit engagements in full compliance with applicable professional standards and auditing requirements.’ Deloitte did not respond.
The September hearing on Atos’s appeal against document disclosure will be the next procedural test for the claimants. If Atos’s challenge fails, seven years of internal records will be available to support the case against both auditors.
