Sarkozy's court defeat: a look at the legal cases involving France's former president

PARIS (AP) — France’s former President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose conviction in a corruption case was made definitive by France's highest court Wednesday, has been involved in a series of legal proceedings in recent years.

Another trial is to open next month over alleged Libya financing for his 2007 presidential campaign.

Sarkozy, 69, who was France's president from 2007 to 2012, has denied any wrongdoing. He retired from active politics in 2017.

Here’s a look at legal cases involving him.

France’s Court of Cassation on Wednesday upheld an appeal court decision which had found Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling while he was the country’s head of state.

Sarkozy has been sentenced to a year in prison, but is expected to ask to be detained at home with an electronic bracelet as provided by French law.

He said he would bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Sarkozy was first found guilty in 2021 by a Paris court, a verdict confirmed in 2023 by an appeals court, for trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated.

Sarkozy and 12 others will go on trial in January 2025 on charges that his 2007 presidential campaign received millions in illegal financing from the government of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Sarkozy has been under investigation in the case since 2013. He is charged with passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, embezzlement of Libyan public funds and criminal association.

Investigators examined claims that Gadhafi’s government secretly gave Sarkozy 50 million euros ($52.3 million) for his winning 2007 campaign. The sum would be more than double the legal campaign funding limit at the time and would violate French rules against foreign campaign financing.

The investigation gained traction when French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine told news site Mediapart in 2016 that he had delivered suitcases from Libya containing 5 million euros in cash to Sarkozy and his former chief of staff. Takieddine later withdrew the allegation and Sarkozy sought to have the inquiry closed.

After becoming president in 2007, Sarkozy welcomed Gadhafi to France with high honors later that year. Sarkozy then put France at the forefront of NATO-led airstrikes that helped rebel fighters topple Gadhafi’s government in 2011.

French investigative judges filed preliminary charges last year against Sarkozy for his alleged involvement in an attempt to mislead magistrates in order to clear him in the Libya financing case.

Financial prosecutors said Sarkozy is suspected of “benefitting from corruptly influencing a witness” — Takieddine — who accused him of receiving illegal campaign financing from Libya.

Sarkozy’s wife, the former supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was given preliminary charges in July this year for alleged involvement in efforts to pressure Takieddine. Bruni-Sarkozy was placed under judicial supervision, which includes a ban on contact with all those involved in the proceedings with the exception of her husband.

In February this year, an appeals court in Paris upheld a guilty verdict against the former president for illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid. Sarkozy was sentenced to a year in prison, of which six months were suspended.

Sarkozy is accused of having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of 22.5 million euros on the re-election bid that he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande.

Lawyers for Sarkozy, who has denied all allegations, have appealed to the Court of Cassation against the sentence in that case.

FILE - Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives at the courtroom for his appeal trial of trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated Monday, Dec. 5, 2022 in Paris. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

FILE - Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, right, and his lawyer Jacqueline Laffont, center, arrive at the courtroom, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

FILE - Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy looks on as he attends a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe, as part of the commemorations marking the105th anniversary of the Nov. 11, 1918 Armistice, ending World War I, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023 in Paris. (Ludovic Marin/Pool via AP, File)

LONDON (AP) — A British court ruled Wednesday that police can seize more than 2.6 million pounds ($3.3 million) to cover years of unpaid taxes from influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan.

The Devon and Cornwall Police force went to court to claim the money, held in seven frozen bank accounts, from the Tates and a woman identified only as J.

At Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring ruled that financial transactions by the brothers, including transferring almost $12 million into an account in the name of J, were a “straightforward cheat” of the tax authorities.

“I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that they have engaged in long-standing, deliberate conduct in order to evade their tax," Golspring said in his ruling.

The proceedings are civil, which carries a lower standard of proof than criminal cases, so Goldspring only had to decide on the balance of probabilities whether the Tates had evaded tax.

A lawyer for the police force said that the Tates were “serial” tax evaders who failed to pay any tax on 21 million pounds in revenue from their online businesses, including War Room, Hustlers’ University, Cobra Tate and OnlyFans, between 2014 and 2022.

Andrew Tate, 38, accused the government of “outright theft” for freezing his accounts and seizing “everything they could.”

“This is not justice; it’s a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system," Tate said in a statement. “This raises serious questions about the lengths authorities will go to silence dissent.”

At a hearing in July, attorney Sarah Clarke quoted from a video posted online by Andrew Tate, in which he said: “When I lived in England I refused to pay tax.”

She said J — who can't be named because of a court order — wasn't involved with the brothers' businesses.

A lawyer for the brothers, Martin Evans, argued that the bank transfers were “entirely orthodox” for people who run online businesses. He said the siblings spent money on a number of “exotic motor cars,” but did nothing illegal.

Court documents show an estimated total of 2,683,345.88 pounds (about $3.4 million) is held in the seven accounts police can now seize.

Devon and Cornwall Police said after the ruling that "from the outset, we have aimed to demonstrate that Andrew and Tristan Tate evaded taxes and laundered money through bank accounts located in Devon," a county in southwest England. The force said it would not comment further until the end of a 28-day appeal period.

Andrew Tate is a former kickboxer and dual British-U.S. citizen who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X. He has been banned from TikTok, YouTube and Facebook after the platforms accused him of posting hate speech and misogynistic comments.

He and Tristan Tate, 36, face criminal allegations in Romania, including human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women. They are set to be extradited to the U.K. once those proceedings are over to face further allegations of rape and human trafficking.

The Tates deny all the allegations.

Associated Press writers Brian Melley in London and Stephen McGrath in Warwick, England contributed to this story.

FILE - Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan, right, wait at the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, on Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

Andrew Tate, left, listens to his brother Tristan, right, at the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)