The mayor of Saint-Etienne, Gaël Perdriau, at the criminal division of the Lyon court, on December 1, 2025. OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP
A French court on Monday, December 1, sentenced a mayor to four years in jail for blackmailing a political rival with a secretly filmed sex tape involving a male sex worker. Gaël Perdriau, who has been mayor of the eastern industrial city of Saint-Etienne since 2014, throughout the trial denied ordering the recording of a video involving his former deputy, Gilles Artigues, a Roman Catholic who had spoken out against gay marriage.
But a court in the city of Lyon found the 53-year-old guilty of blackmail, criminal conspiracy and diverting public funds, handing him four years behind bars – as well as another suspended – and a five-year ban from public office, effective immediately. Perdriau was "entirely guilty," the presiding judge, Brigitte Vernay, said.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Perdriau commissioned the sex tape filmed in a hotel room in early 2015 to ensure Artigues' loyalty, warning he would release it if his deputy broke ranks. "He was the one with his finger on the nuclear button," prosecutor Audrey Quey told the court, describing the mayor as the "decision-maker."
