Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France from 2007 to 2012, has been definitively convicted in two major legal cases. In the Bismuth affair, Sarkozy was convicted of corruption and influence peddling for attempting to bribe a magistrate for information regarding a legal investigation. This conviction was finalized in December 2024. He was sentenced to three years in prison, with one year to be served under electronic monitoring, which he completed. In the Bygmalion affair, Sarkozy was convicted of illegal campaign financing for his 2012 re-election bid, in which he exceeded spending limits through a double-billing scheme with a PR firm. The Court of Cassation finalized this conviction in November 2025, upholding a sentence of one year in prison, with six months suspended. Additionally, in September 2025, Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy related to allegations that his 2007 campaign sought illegal funding from the Libyan government under Muammar Gaddafi. He has appealed this verdict, and the case is currently under further review by an appeals court, where prosecutors are seeking a seven-year sentence. He was acquitted of other charges in the Libya case, including passive corruption and illegal campaign financing, on technical grounds. Following his initial corruption conviction, Sarkozy was stripped of his Legion of Honor.