French court finds Marine Le Pen guilty in embezzlement case

A French court has found Marine Le Pen guilty in an embezzlement case but did not immediately say what her sentence might be and how it might impact the National Rally leader’s political future.

Ms 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 National Rally who, like her, previously served as elected legislators in the European Parliament.

Ms 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 Ms 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 and she has described such scenario as a “political death”.

Ms Le Pen and 24 other officials from her 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.

Ms Le Pen and her co-defendants denied wrongdoing.

Ms 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.

“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 Ms Le Pen cannot run in 2027, her seeming natural successor would be Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 29-year-old protege who succeeded her at the helm of the party in 2021.

Ms 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 legislators, 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 Ms 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 Ms Le Pen.

Ms Le Pen said she felt they were “only interested” in preventing her from running for president.