Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Patrick Littaye, co-founder of Access International Advisors LLC, became the first person charged in the French criminal investigation into investor losses from Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

Littaye, 70, was charged with participating in a breach of trust, a crime punishable by as much as three years in prison, Isabelle Montagne, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutors’ office, said today. A judge was reviewing a Paris woman’s claims that she was tricked into putting money in Access International’s LuxAlpha Sicav-American Selection fund, which entrusted about 95 percent of its money to Madoff.

Littaye “is the first person charged in the investigation into Madoff losses” in France, said Montagne.

French investors may have lost 500 million euros ($738 million) through funds linked to the convicted New York con man, according to France’s market regulator. Littaye founded Access in 1994 with Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, who served as the group’s chief executive officer. Villehuchet was found dead in his Madison Avenue office in December, 12 days after Madoff’s arrest.

Littaye and his lawyer, Jean-Philippe Jacob, declined to comment when contacted by telephone today.

“It’s the declaration of an official suspicion, but it’s nothing but a suspicion,” Jean-Yves Le Borgne, a Paris-based criminal lawyer, said by telephone. “There are charges against you, you are charged, now defend yourself.”

540,000-Euro Investment

Investigating Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke is leading the probe into the woman’s claims of aggravated abuse of trust, fraud, harboring stolen goods and money laundering. The woman said she put 540,000 euros in LuxAlpha.

The woman’s lawyer, Jean Reinhart, didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

Madoff, 71, pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced on June 29 to 150 years in prison for using money from new clients to pay earlier investors. David Friehling, Madoff’s accountant, yesterday became the third person to plead guilty in the U.S. over their role in the fraud.

Access managed $3 billion and had 26 employees according to marketing documents from September 2008. Littaye invested all of his own money in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC last year, enticed by the firm’s positive returns as other hedge funds slumped. His error was compounded because he borrowed money to increase the return on his investment, leaving him with $4 million in personal debts, he said in interviews with Bloomberg in January.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Smith in Paris at hsmith26@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 4, 2009 12:47 EST