US EditionFrench Mayor Sentenced to Prison for Blackmailing Political Rival with Sex Tape
Gaël Perdriau received a four-year prison term, a €50,000 fine, and a five-year ban from office for blackmailing his deputy using misappropriated public funds, court said.
- On Monday, December 1, 2025, the Lyon criminal court sentenced Gaël Perdriau, mayor of Saint-Etienne, to a multi-year prison term and imposed an immediate five-year ban from public office.
- To ensnare Gilles Artigues, prosecutors said Perdriau commissioned a 2015 sex tape, with municipal funds transferred through Gilles Rossary-Lenglet, and instructed Pierre Gauttieri.
- Gilles Artigues testified that Perdriau referenced a USB stick in a 2017 recording, Samy Kéfi-Jérôme admitted placing a concealed camera, and prosecutor Audrey Quey said, `He was the one with his finger on the nuclear button`.
- A prefect will formalise Gaël Perdriau's resignation, and the public prosecutor will summon him for incarceration in the coming weeks, while three co-defendants including Pierre Gauttieri and Samy Kéfi-Jérôme received prison terms.
- Against a backdrop of high-profile convictions, the case echoes a Sarkozy precedent and removes Gaël Perdriau, mayor since 2014, from office after targeting Gilles Artigues, who opposed same-sex marriage.
46 Articles
46 Articles
For all the candidates already declared in the municipal elections of March 2026, the condemnation of Gaël Perdriau will enable us to position ourselves more clearly in this campaign.
French mayor gets jail term, ban from politics over sex tape blackmail plot
A French court on Monday sentenced a mayor to four years in jail for blackmailing a political rival with a secretly filmed sex tape involving a male sex worker. He also received a five-year ban from public office, effective immediately.
The mayor set a trap for his political rival and had him filmed during sex with a male sex worker in order to push him politically into the out. The court imposed prison sentences for blackmail. Three other participants were also sentenced.
French mayor sentenced to prison for blackmailing political rival with sex tape
A French court has sentenced the mayor of Saint-Étienne, Gaël Perdriau, to four years in prison for orchestrating a blackmail plot against a political rival using a secretly recorded sex tape. Perdriau was found guilty of blackmail, criminal conspiracy and misuse of public funds, and was barred from holding public office.
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