Guerlain cosmetic empire heir convicted of racism Associated Press Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 05:33 a.m., Thursday, March 29, 2012 PARIS (AP) — A French court convicted longtime perfume maker Jean-Paul Guerlain of making racist insults on national television and fined him Thursday €6,000 ($8,000). The 75-year-old Guerlain, an heir to his family's cosmetics empire, provoked anger among French minorities with the comments in a 2010 interview on France-2 television. Several anti-racism groups filed legal complaints, and protests were staged in front of the Guerlain store on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris.