Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy at a Paris courthouse, on September 25, 2025. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
France's highest court ruled against ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday, November 2', over illegal financing of his 2012 re-election bid, the second definitive conviction for the former head of state.
The Court of Cassation upheld the ruling of an appeals court last year and said Sarkozy, a one-term president from 2007 to 2012, was therefore "definitively convicted." The appeals court had ordered he serve a six-month term with an electronic bracelet, plus another six months suspended.
Prosecutors argued Sarkozy's right-wing party worked with a public relations firm, Bygmalion, to hide the true cost of his 2012 electoral campaign. They said he spent nearly €43 million (almost $50 million) on his 2012 campaign, nearly double the permitted amount of €22.5 million.
Unlike his co-defendants, he was not implicated in the double-billing system used to cover costs but was held accountable as the beneficiary of illegal campaign financing in his capacity as a candidate. Sarkozy denied "any criminal responsibility" in the case, denouncing the accusation as "lies." A lower appeals court in February last year confirmed his conviction in the case, but he appealed again to the Court of Cassation.
