France: Far-right leader Marine Le Pen sentenced to prison and disqualified

A Paris misdemeanor court on Monday convicted far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen of embezzlement of public funds, disqualifying her from running in the elections with immediate effect.

Along with Le Pen, the Paris court convicted eight other members of the European Parliament from the party in the same case.

The twelve aides tried with Le Pen were also convicted of complicity in the crime.

The court assessed total damages at €2.9 million, with the European Parliament being charged with costs incurred by individuals who were actually working for the far-right party.

Marine Le Pen was tried on charges of embezzlement of public funds, and complicity in the embezzlement of public funds.

Prosecutors had sought a sentence of up to five years in prison, three of which were suspended, and a fine of €300,000.

In contrast, Le Pen had declared in November 2024, “They are trying to kill me politically”.

The court accused Le Pen, who served as a member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2017, of employing four fictitious assistants who actually worked for the National Rally party, while the European Parliament paid their salaries.

Investigations indicate that these assistants did not perform tasks directly related to parliamentary work, but rather devoted their efforts to running the party.

Among these aides are Thierry Leger (her bodyguard) and Catherine Griset (her chief of staff), both of whom are also accused in the case.

Investigations by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) revealed that Griset spent only 740 minutes, or about 12 hours, in the European Parliament between October 2014 and August 2015, despite being paid as a parliamentary assistant.

During the court hearings, Marine Le Pen denied any wrongdoing, while Catherine Griset maintained that she was working for Le Pen personally, not for the party.

However, investigations revealed that Le Pen had previously told the judge during the investigation that parliamentary aides sometimes worked for the party, a claim she attempted to retract during the trial.

In July 2023, Le Pen was forced to return €330,000 to the European Parliament, the amount of salaries received by Catherine Griset and Thierry Leger.

However, the National Rally party asserted that this repayment was made as part of an administrative procedure and not an admission of guilt.

In addition to the fake employment, authorities suspected that Marine Le Pen was at the heart of a systematic embezzlement scheme that benefited the National Front party between 2004 and 2016.

The prosecution believes the scheme was designed to generate financial savings for the party by exploiting budgets allocated to European Parliamentarians, in violation of democratic rules.

Investigations indicate that the scheme expanded significantly after the 2014 European Parliament elections, with the number of party MPs jumping from three to 23.

Among the evidence uncovered by the investigations was a June 2014 letter from Waleran de Saint-Just, the party’s then-treasurer, to Le Pen, in which he said, “We’ll only be able to get out of our financial crisis if we raise significant funds through the European Parliament”.

An email between him and MEP Jean-Luc Schaffhauser was also uncovered, in which he said, “What Marine is asking us to do is tantamount to signing contracts for fake employment… I understand her reasons, but we’re going to be in trouble”.

Former party members have testified to support this accusation, including Aymeric Chouberade and Sophie Montel, who confirmed that Marine Le Pen asked the European Parliament to limit herself to just one assistant and transfer the rest of the budget to the party.