French far-right leader Marine Le Pen found guilty of embezzlement, barred from seeking public office Today World News

French far-right Leader Marine Le Pen arrives at the courtroom for her embezzlement case on March 31, 2025 in Paris, France.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen strode out of a French court as the chief judge on Monday (March 31, 2025) barred her from seeking public office after she was found guilty of embezzling EU funds.

The Judge hasn’t yet said how long Ms. Le Pen will be ineligible for running for public office.

Ms. Le Pen didn’t wait around to find out. In a moment of high drama, she got up and left, walking out of the court and then the courthouse before she was driven away.

A French court found Marine Le Pen guilty in an embezzlement case but didn’t immediately say what her sentence might be.

Ms. Le Pen, sitting in the front row in the Paris court, showed no immediate reaction as the chief Judge declared her guilty. She later repeatedly nodded her head in disagreement as the judge went into greater detail, saying Ms. Le Pen’s party had illegally used European Parliament money for its own benefit. “Incredible,” she whispered at one point.

The Judge also handed down guilty verdicts to eight other current or former members of her party who, like her, previously served as European Parliament lawmakers.

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. She has described such scenario as a “political death.”

The verdict was shaping up as a resounding defeat for Ms. Le Pen and her party. As well as finding her and eight other former European lawmakers guilty of embezzling public funds, the court also handed down guilty verdicts to 12 other people who served as parliamentary aides for Ms. Le Pen and what is now the National Rally party, formerly the National Front.

The chief Judge, who read the ruling delivered by her and two other justices, said Ms. Le Pen had been at the heart of “a system” that her party used to siphon off EU parliament money. The judge said Ms. Le Pen and other co-defendants didn’t enrich themselves personally. But the ruling described the embezzlement as “a democratic bypass” that deceived the parliament and voters.

Ms. Le Pen and 24 other officials from the National Rally 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, Ms. Le Pen’s 29-year-old protégé who succeeded her at the helm of the party in 2021.

Ms. Le Pen denied accusations she was at the head of the 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 political work related to the party.

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.