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France's highest court has upheld a conviction against former President Nicolas Sarkozy for illegal campaign financing, making his one-year prison sentence for his failed 2012 reelection bid final. The Court of Cassation on Wednesday rejected his last-ditch appeal, exhausting his legal options in a case that has come to be known as the 'Bygmalion affair.'
Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, was found guilty of knowingly exceeding the strict 22.5 million-euro spending limit for his campaign. Investigators determined that his actual campaign expenses amounted to at least 42.8 million euros. To conceal the overrun, his conservative party, then the UMP, conspired with a public relations firm named Bygmalion to issue fake invoices. This fraudulent accounting scheme allowed the lavish costs of campaign rallies and events to be masked as party expenses. The sentence, which was confirmed by a Paris appeals court in February 2024, is expected to be served under home detention with an electronic monitoring bracelet, a common arrangement for sentences of two years or less.
This ruling marks the second final criminal conviction for the 69-year-old former leader, a first in modern French history for a past head of state. His first definitive sentence came in a separate case involving corruption and influence peddling, which was finalized in late 2024. In that case, he was also sentenced to a year of home detention for attempting to bribe a magistrate for information about another investigation.
Sarkozy did not attend the high court's hearing. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the Bygmalion case, claiming he was unaware of the fraudulent accounting practices. Despite his legal troubles, Sarkozy remains an influential figure on the French right. The verdict underscores a years-long legal battle and solidifies the sentences for numerous co-defendants, including former campaign officials and executives from the Bygmalion firm, who received various sentences for their roles in the scheme.
