Disputed loans, fictitious jobs, campaign kits… The RN caught up in multiple affairs

"Clean hands, head held high." This slogan, once used by the National Front to denounce corruption in the sector, is boomeranging back on today's National Rally. The headquarters of the Le Pen party, suspected of illicit financing, was raided by the Financial Brigade on Wednesday, July 9th.

As the 2026 municipal elections and the 2027 presidential elections approach, RN president Jordan Bardella denounces "harassment" intended to "prevent him from gaining power." Campaign financing, fictitious jobs in the European Parliament, suspicions of embezzlement within the former Identity and Democracy group... A look back at the various legal cases affecting the National Rally.

The Financial and Anti-Corruption Brigade raided the Paris headquarters of the National Rally on Wednesday as part of an investigation into the illicit financing of election campaigns between 2022 and 2024. A year ago, the Paris prosecutor's office opened a judicial investigation into "fraud" committed against a public figure.

Investigators are interested in the numerous loans granted by individuals to the party and in possible fictitious invoices subsequently repaid, which could constitute "disguised donations." These loans from individuals are authorized, but regulated. However, the RN has aroused suspicion because it is "the party that has used them the most," explained Christian Charpy, president of the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP).

The investigations also target several service providers and the homes of their directors in order to reconstruct the party's financial circuits and to verify that the limits set by the CNCCFP have been respected.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office announced on Tuesday, July 8, that it had opened an investigation into the former National Rally political group in the European Parliament. Along with its partners in the former Identity and Democracy (ID) group, the National Rally is suspected of having "improperly spent" more than €4.3 million between 2019 and 2024, according to a report from the Brussels institution's financial affairs department.

Although the party did not hold the presidency or general secretariat of this coalition during this period, the majority of this sum benefited two companies linked to people close to Marine Le Pen: her former advisor Frédéric Chatillon and his wife Sighild Blanc.

The communications agency e-Politic is said to have received €1.7 million after a tender tainted by "serious compliance issues," according to Brussels inspectors. The same goes for the company Unanime, which pocketed more than €1.4 million for printing work, subcontracted with a profit estimated at €260,000.

The investigation into "fictitious jobs" began in 2014. Parliamentary assistants officially paid by Brussels were in fact said to have worked for the FN/RN between 2004 and 2016.

On March 31, 2025, Marine Le Pen was sentenced to four years in prison (two of which were suspended), five years of ineligibility, and a €100,000 fine. The party and almost all of the defendants received sentences that included fines and ineligibility. The appeals court, which has been referred to the court, has committed to ruling by the summer of 2026.

On July 9, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights rejected Marine Le Pen's request to suspend her ineligibility, finding that "the existence of an imminent risk of irreparable harm has not been established."

Launched in 2014, the "Jeanne affair," also known as the "campaign kits affair," concerns a financial scheme implemented during the 2012 legislative elections through the Jeanne micro-party founded by people close to Marine Le Pen and the communications company Riwal, headed by Frédéric Chatillon. According to the prosecution, these "kits"—consisting of leaflets, posters, uniforms, and accounting services—sold at €16,650 were overcharged in order to divert state reimbursements to create a parallel campaign fund.

Ten individuals and legal entities, including the RN as a party but not its president, Marine Le Pen, were sent to the criminal court in 2016. During the trial, which took place three years later, the party was fined €18,750 for receiving stolen corporate assets, and several leaders received suspended prison sentences.

On appeal, the court increased the RN's fine to €250,000 and upheld almost all of the individual sentences, although it reduced certain periods of ineligibility. This decision was upheld by the Court of Cassation a year later.