Marine le Pen faces her ‘political death’ as court finds her GUILTY of embezzlement charges – which could prevent her from presidential elections

French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen has been found guilty in an embezzlement case.

The far-right politician and 24 other party officials were accused of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to instead pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, violating the 27-nation bloc’s regulations.

Le Pen, 56, and other co-defendants denied wrongdoing during the nine-week trial that took place in late 2024, and she claims that was being put on trial as a ‘political target’. The defendants also claimed the money had been used legitimately. 

Le Pen has been found guilty of misappropriating around £397,000, in particular for the contracts of her bodyguard, Thierry Légier, and her former parliamentary attaché and ex-sister-in-law, Catherine Griset. 

‘Catherine Griset worked for Marine Le Pen, but not as a member of parliament in Brussels,’ the presiding judge, Bénédicte de Perthuis, told the Paris criminal court. 

According to reports, Le Pen showed no immediate reaction as the chief judge read the verdict but shook her head in the Paris courtroom when she learnt that Griset was found guilty.

Le Pen and her co-defendants face up to 10 years in prison. They can appeal, which would lead to another trial. 

Prosecutors wanted Le Pen to face an immediate five-year ban from public office – which would stop her from running to replace Emmanuel Macron in 2027 – if found guilty, as well as a five-year jail sentence.

Perthuis said the ineligibility to run for public office should begin straightaway and not be suspended pending the appeal that Le Pen is expected to file if convicted. She has described such a scenario as ‘political death’.

The sentences of Le Pen and eight other MEP’s will be reported individually later today, French media have stated.

Marine Le Pen arrives for the closing arguments hearing in the trial on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, at a court in Paris on November 13, 2024

Marine Le Pen reacts at the National Assembly, Tuesday, January 14, 2025 in Paris

Following the ban against Le Pen running for president, political opponent Éric Coquerel, MP for radical Left party France Unbowed told French news channel LCI: ‘I don’t agree that things that should be decided by the ballot box are decided by the courts.

‘It will only paint the National Rally as a victim’.

Le Pen appeared to be anticipating a guilty verdict, telling the panel of three judges earlier: ‘I feel we didn’t succeed in convincing you.’

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.

‘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.

Her young lieutenant and protege Jordan Bardella, 29, who is the RN party chief, was not among the accused in the trial and is also seen as a potential presidential contender should Marine Le Pen fall. 

In a key decision on Friday, the Constitutional Council ruled that a period of ineligibility with immediate effect is in line with the French Constitution.

But it also stressed that it’s up to the judges to assess the consequences of imposing such a ban right away and make sure the ruling is ‘proportionate’ and takes into consideration ‘the preservation of voters’ freedom.’

The Constitutional Council rendered its ruling in a separate case that has no direct link with Le Pen’s.

Yet its conclusions have been scrutinized as they provide legal guidance that judges are likely to take into consideration.

The Constitutional Council also underlined that the court can decide to not impose any period of ineligibility immediately. In that case, the ban would be suspended pending appeal.

Marine Le Pen arrives at the Paris criminal courthouse for her trial on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris, on November 18, 2024

Jordan Bardella speaks during a conference on antisemitism in Jerusalem on March 27, 2025

For over a decade, Le Pen has worked at making her party more mainstream, dulling its extremist edge to broaden its appeal to voters. 

After coming third in the 2012 presidential polls, Marine Le Pen made the run-off in 2017 and 2022 but was beaten by Emmanuel Macron on both occasions.

Yet 2027 could be a different opportunity, with Macron not allowed to stand again.

Le Pen’s life has been marked by the legacy of her openly racist father, a veteran of the long war in Algeria that ultimately led to the former French colony’s independence.

Le Pen in 2011 took over leadership of the National Front (FN) from her father Jean-Marie, who co-founded France’s main postwar far-right movement.

Distancing it from the legacy of her father, who openly made anti-Semitic and racist statements, she renamed the party the National Rally (RN) and embarked on a policy she dubbed ‘dediabolisation’ (‘de-demonisation’)

Jean-Marie Le Pen gestures during a political meeting at the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy (POPB), in Paris, on June 2, 1988

Macron (pictured March 27) will not be able to stand again in 2027, an opportunity for RN

The work bore fruit in the snap legislative polls last summer, with the RN emerging as the largest single party in the National Assembly, although without the outright majority it had targeted.

That gave Le Pen unprecedented power over French politics, which she used by backing a no-confidence vote that toppled the government of prime minister Michel Barnier later in the year.

Critics accuse the party of still being inherently racist, taking too long to distance itself from Russia and resorting to corrupt tactics to ease its strained finances, allegations Le Pen denies.

But playing on people’s day-to-day concerns about immigration and the cost of living, Le Pen is now seen as having her best chance to win the French presidency in 2027 after three unsuccessful attempts.

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