Le Pen, whose party is a front-runner in polls ahead of the 2027 vote, also faces a potential jail sentence, after being found guilty of embezzlement.
A French court has found the leader of France’s right-wing National Rally Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzlement, and issued a ban on running for office that ends her 2027 anticipated bid for the presidency.
On March 31, judges from the Paris Criminal Court ruled that Le Pen—whose party is a front-runner in polls ahead of the 2027 vote—cannot run for public office for five years.
Le Pen was accused of using 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.
A criminal investigation began a decade ago, and many of the charges date back long before her first run for the French presidency in 2012.
Le Pen, who was charged along with two dozen party figures, denied any wrongdoing.
Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis ruled: “It was established that all these people were actually working for the party, that their (EU) lawmaker had not given them any tasks.
“The investigations also showed that these were not administrative errors … but embezzlement within the framework of a system put in place to reduce the party’s costs.”
The judge gave Le Pen a four-year prison sentence—two years of which are suspended and two that will be served under home detention. She also received a 100,000 euro (about $108,200) fine. Le Pen can appeal the verdict, and that process can take months or even years.
The judge also handed down guilty verdicts to eight other current or former members of Le Pen’s party.
Prosecutors asked that Le Pen face an immediate five-year ban from public office if found guilty, regardless of any appeal process, using a so-called “provisional execution” measure.
Le Pen, 56, a three-time presidential contender, has said that 2027 will be her final run for top office.
The defendants said the money was used legitimately and the allegations define too narrowly what a parliamentary assistant does.
By Owen Evans
