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 Monday, 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, along with two dozen party figures, denied any wrongdoing.
Judge Benedicte 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.”
She faces a jail sentence of up to 10 years and a one million euro ($1.12 million) fine.
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.
A tough sentence “would cause considerable disruption since the main opposition leader would be prevented from running by the judges,” said Arnaud Benedetti, a political analyst who has written a book on the RN’s rise, prior to the verdict.
In an interview with La Tribune Dimanche, published on Saturday, Le Pen said she wasn’t nervous, and expected mercy from the judges.
“With provisional execution, the judges have the power of life or death over our movement,” she said. “But I don’t think they’ll go that far.”
The National Rally, which was known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 is a right-wing populist and nationalist party.
Marine’s father, Jean-Marie Le-Pen, the party’s founder, died earlier this year at the age of 96 and was a controversial figure in French politics.
Marine, who assumed leadership in 2012, has softened the image of the party while maintaining a hawkish anti-immigration stance.
The party has been snapping at the heels of centrist President Emmanuel Macron.
Last June, Macron dissolved the French National Assembly and called for a snap election after the right-wing National Rally party made gains in the European Union parliamentary elections.
This is a developing story, and will be updated.
James Lalino, Chris Summers, Reuters, and Associated Press contributed to this report.
