Verdict against fallen far-right political star Marine Le Pen: In Focus

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This week, a jaw-dropping verdict emerged in France: Marine Le Pen was found guilty of embezzling European Union funds to pay for party expenses rather than what the monies were actually for. The verdict has all but ended Le Pen’s political career.

The Lowdown

Marine Le Pen and her politics likely are on the way out in France. With this week’s shocking verdict that found her guilty of embezzling millions, the far-right politician now faces a host of consequences for her actions. Those actions according to the case against her also mean she will be banned from France’s next election in 2027. Of course, though, there’s one feat of the case that means that Le Pen’s career is all but over considering she is banned from public office for at least years as said by a ruling from Bénédicte de Perthuis — the judge who handed down the verdict.

From 2004 all the way to 2016, Le Pen unlawfully used funds allocated from the European Union to pay for staff in Brussels or Strausburg, but instead, the monies were funneled into the National Rally Party and used to pay for staff expenses in France. All of this was funded by taxpayer monies rather than outside sources. It’s claimed that the staff in France reportedly had no connection to work being done by the European Parliament.

In case it couldn’t get any worse it does. According to the same case, she also took part in a ‘fake job’ scheme that produced numerous phony contracts. Those contracts were worth (a total of 8 fake contracts) about €474,000 and were only a small part of Le Pen’s deception and fraud over more than a decade.

The judge in the case eventually found that Le Pen did not personally profit from the scheme itself but rather the National Rally party benefitted as a whole. He did however rule that Le Pen took part in the scheme to benefit the party with great interest.

For her part, Le Pen is planning to appeal the ruling, a ruling that has devastated her political future. She was also handed a four-year prison sentence, with two years suspended and the remainder to be served with an ankle bracelet plus €100,000 in fines.