PARIS (AP) — A Paris court is expected to deliver a verdict Monday in an embezzlement case that could shake up French politics and derail far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s career.
Le Pen and 24 other officials from her National Rally are 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 deny wrongdoing.
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.”
The Constitutional Council ruled Friday, in a separate case, that imposing the punishment immediately was constitutional.
If found guilty, Le Pen and her co-defendants also face up to 10 years in prison — a verdict they could appeal. That would lead to another trial.
Le Pen 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.
The nine-week trial took place in late 2024.
Le Pen has 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.
While testifying, Le Pen told the court: “I absolutely don’t feel I have committed the slightest irregularity, the slightest illegal move.”
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 asked the court to declare Le Pen guilty and requested a two-year prison sentence and a five-year period of ineligibility.
Le Pen said she felt they were “only interested” in preventing her from running for president.
Prosecutors also requested a guilty verdict for all other co-defendants, including various sentences of up to one year in prison and a 2-million-euro ($2.2 million) fine for the party.
