Karla Barker 
François Garcin, the executive hired by MARA Holdings to build its European business and win French approval for the Exaion acquisition, has filed a lawsuit against the company in New York federal court. He claims MARA owes him more than €11 million in unpaid fees. The case, reported by the French Bitcoin institute INBi, landed in the Southern District of New York.
The Lawsuit
Garcin’s 40-page complaint centers on a contract signed on June 22, 2025. It gave him exclusive authority over what the filing calls “Project Nebula,” covering the Exaion purchase and joint ventures with French energy firms. His pay included a €2.4 million advisory fee and a 4% success commission on MARA’s total investment in Exaion. The deal closed on February 20, 2026, with MARA paying roughly €148 million for a 64% stake in Exaion. Under those terms, Garcin was owed a commission of about €5.92 million. He also says MARA still owed him €1 million of his advisory fee.
Just two weeks after closing, on March 6, MARA terminated Garcin’s contract without paying either amount. MARA told him the dispute was over a VAT tax issue, but Garcin rejects that. He points out that MARA had already paid seven months of his earlier invoices, which included French VAT without complaint. The company hasn’t yet responded in court.
Background of the Deal
MARA hired Garcin partly to convince French officials that its arrival wasn’t a “Trojan horse.” The company also brought on Gérard Mestrallet, former CEO of French energy giant Engie. According to the filing, Mestrallet told a senior French official that MARA planned to invest “about €4 billion over three years” in French data centers. MARA confirmed Mestrallet’s role in an August 2025 press release, naming Garcin as General Manager of Europe.
Yet political resistance was stiff. Former Economy Minister Antoine Armand asked for clarification the day the deal was announced, August 11, 2025. Over the next months, politicians from Éric Ciotti to Marine Le Pen voiced concerns about sovereignty. Lawmaker Philippe Latombe wrote an op-ed criticizing the takeover, leading to an economic-security investigation. In December, parliamentarians referred the deal’s terms to the financial crimes prosecutor.
Political Resistance and Final Approval
The French Treasury eventually cleared MARA to take control, but insisted EDF’s two-year non-compete clause stay in place. That angered critics. France paused the acquisition briefly in early February over national-security concerns, sending MARA shares down 13.3%. Finally, on February 20, the government revised terms: it removed the non-compete and non-solicitation clauses and brought Xavier Niel’s firm NJJ into MARA France’s capital.
The lawsuit also claims MARA secured an invitation to the Choose France summit through “a very small exception.” Garcin’s filing notes that he met former President François Hollande on January 19, 2026. Just 60 minutes after that meeting, a provisional government authorization for the Exaion deal was issued. Internal messages revealed in the complaint include a note from MARA’s CEO Fred Thiel praising “the conquest of Gaul” and a WhatsApp group message saying “Make MARA Great Again!”
As of now, MARA has not filed a response. The case will likely bring more details about the behind-the-scenes negotiations and the tensions between a US Bitcoin miner and French political interests.