French court finds far-right leader Marine Le Pen guilty in embezzlement
case
[March 31, 2025]
By SYLVIE CORBET
PARIS (AP) — A French court found Marine Le Pen guilty on Monday in an
embezzlement case but didn’t immediately say what her sentence might be
and how it might impact the far-right leader’s political future.
Le Pen, sitting in the front row in the Paris court, showed no immediate
reaction as the chief judge read the verdict.
The judge also handed down guilty verdicts to eight other current or
former members of her party who, like her, previously served as elected
lawmakers in the European Parliament.
Le Pen and her co-defendants face up to 10 years in prison. They can
appeal, which would lead to another trial.
The biggest concern for Le Pen is that the court may declare her
ineligible to run for office “with immediate effect” — even if she
appeals. That could prevent her from running for president in 2027. She
has described such scenario as a “political death.”
Le Pen and 24 other officials from her National Rally party were accused
of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to
pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation
of the 27-nation bloc’s regulations. Le Pen and her co-defendants denied
wrongdoing.
Le Pen, 56, was runner-up to President Emmanuel Macron in the 2017 and
2022 presidential elections, and her party’s electoral support has grown
in recent years.
During the nine-week trial that took place in late 2024, she argued that
ineligibility “would have the effect of depriving me of being a
presidential candidate" and disenfranchise her supporters.
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French far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrives at the courtroom for
the trial over the suspected embezzlement of European Parliament
funds, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien
Morissard, File)
“There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent.
So tomorrow, potentially, millions and millions of French people
would see themselves deprived of their candidate in the election,”
she told the panel of three judges.
If Le Pen cannot run in 2027, her seeming natural successor would be
Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 29-year-old protégé who succeeded her at
the helm of the party in 2021.
Le Pen denied accusations she was at the head of “a system” meant to
siphon off EU parliament money to benefit her party, which she led
from 2011 to 2021. She argued instead that it was acceptable to
adapt the work of the aides paid by the European Parliament to the
needs of the lawmakers, including some highly political work related
to the party, which was called the National Front at the time.
Hearings showed that some EU money was used to pay for Le Pen’s
bodyguard — who was once her father's bodyguard — as well as her
personal assistant.
Prosecutors requested a two-year prison sentence and a five-year
period of ineligibility for Le Pen.
Le Pen said she felt they were “only interested” in preventing her
from running for president.
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