French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been handed a five-year ban from running for public office after she was found guilty of embezzlement.
Le Pen, 56, was also handed a four-year prison sentence with two years suspended and the rest to be served under home detention.
The ruling marks a major setback for the National Rally leader, who has unsuccessfully run for president three times and will no longer be able to run in the next race.
Polls have shown Le Pen to be a frontrunner in the 2027 presidential race after she successfully moved her party towards the mainstream.
The process to replace her as leader has now begun.
Here's what to know about the case.
What is Marine Le Pen convicted of?
Marine Le Pen, her party and over two dozen party members were accused of embezzling more than 3.9 million euros ($6.8 million) in funds from the European Union.
The leader was accused by prosecutors of being at the heart of a "system" that her party created to siphon European Parliament funds to pay her own staff.
The money was meant for European Union Parliamentary aides but was instead used to pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016.
Eight other former or current party members were handed guilty verdicts.
The defendants were not accused of pocketing the money for themselves, but rather of using EU funds to the benefit of their party.
Le Pen denies any wrongdoing and the defendants in the case argued the allegations incorporated too narrow a definition of what a parliamentary assistant did.
During the court case, prosecutors said the RN used the 21,000-euro ($36,000) monthly EU parliament allowance to pay staff in France, hiding the scheme behind "fictitious" posts in the European legislature's offices.
"It was established that all these people were actually working for the party, that their MEP had not assigned them any tasks," said the judge.
The court ruled that Le Pen used four party employees as parliamentary assistants including her personal assistant and bodyguard.
The ruling described the embezzlement as “a democratic bypass” that deceived the parliament and voters.
This violated the 27-nation bloc’s regulations.
The defendants said the money was used legitimately and that the allegations incorporated too narrow a definition of what a parliamentary assistant did.
The judge, Bénédicte de Perthuis, said Le Pen’s were a “serious and lasting attack on the rules of democratic life in Europe, but especially in France.”
How did the case begin?
According to French Publication Le Monde, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) received an anonymous tip-off about cases of fictitious employment as early as 2014 by the party and its leader Le Pen.
An investigation was opened, scrutinising the actions of Le Pen's chief of staff and bodyguard, who also presented as her parliamentary assistants.
The case took on greater significance when the president of the European Parliament at the time, Martin Schullz referred irregularities to the OLAF concerning salaries being paid to other assistants.
A preliminary investigation was opened in France in 2015 in which a series of documents were gathered from several locations including the party's headquarters.
A 2015 organisational chart also showed that 16 European lawmakers and 20 parliamentary assistants held official positions within the party — roles unrelated to their supposed duties as EU parliamentary staff.
A subsequent investigation found that some assistants were contractually linked to different MEPs than the ones they were actually working for, suggesting a scheme to divert European funds to pay party employees in France.
A judicial investigation was opened in France in 2016.
The investigations were ongoing as Le Pen ran for president in 2017 and 2022 and lost to Emanuel Macron.
After nine years of investigations, In December 2023 judges in France called for Le Pen and 27 other senior members of the National Rally to be tried for embezzlement of public funds.
What was Marine Le Pen's reaction?
Le Pen has slammed the decision and said she would appeal.
From the front row of the court, Le Pen showed no immediate reaction when the judge first declared her guilty. But she grew more agitated as the verdict was delivered in greater detail.
She shook her head in disagreement as the judge said Le Pen’s party illegally used European funds for its own benefit.
“Incredible,” she whispered at one point.
She then left without warning, picking up her bag and striding out
Later, in a combative interview with the commercial French television network TF1, she said she would pursue whatever legal avenues she could to continue her career in politics.
"I'm not going to let myself be eliminated like this. I'm going to pursue whatever legal avenues I can. There is a small path. It's certainly narrow, but it exists," she said, urging the judiciary to hold the appeal hearing swiftly so she could still take part in the 2027 vote.
She said that the appeal would be lodged "as quickly as possible" and said that the judiciary should "get a move on" so it is heard in time.
"I am going to appeal because I am innocent," she said.
What is the European Parliament?
The European Parliament is the directly elective legislative body of the European Union.
The Members of the European Parliament are directly elected by voters in all Member States to represent people’s interests with regard to EU law-making and to make sure other EU institutions are working democratically.
The EU consists of 27 member states and France is a major member of the EU.
How have other world leaders reacted?
US President Donald Trump compared Le Pen's conviction for fraud and the ban on her running for office to his own legal battles.
"She was banned from running for five years and she was the leading candidate. That sounds like this country, that sounds very much like this country," Trump said, describing the court ruling as "a very big deal."
The verdict was condemned by the Kremlin, billionaire tycoon Elon Musk and hard-right European politicians ranging from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Geert Wilders of the Netherlands.
