France Top Court Upholds Sarkozy Campaign Conviction

France's highest court on Wednesday upheld former President Nicolas Sarkozy's conviction for illegal campaign financing related to his unsuccessful 2012 reelection bid, marking another definitive legal defeat for the onetime leader. The Court of Cassation confirmed a one-year prison sentence, with six months suspended and the remainder eligible to be served under electronic monitoring at home, as determined by judicial authorities.

The ruling stems from events during Sarkozy's 2012 campaign, when his party, then known as the Union for a Popular Movement and now Les Républicains, exceeded the legal spending limit of 22.5 million euros by nearly double, totaling around 43 million euros. Prosecutors alleged that the party collaborated with a public relations firm, Bygmalion, to implement a double-billing scheme that concealed the excess costs through fake invoices for events and rallies. While Sarkozy was not directly implicated in the billing fraud, the court held him accountable as the primary beneficiary, finding that he had authorized expenditures despite awareness that they surpassed the cap. The initial conviction came in 2021 from a Paris court, followed by an appeals court...