Overview
- The Lyon criminal court found Perdriau entirely guilty of blackmail, criminal conspiracy and misappropriation of public funds, imposing five years in prison with four years firm, a €50,000 fine, and five years’ ineligibility with immediate effect.
- Perdriau submitted a resignation letter to the Loire prefect, stepping down from his municipal and metropolitan mandates with immediate effect while pursuing an appeal.
- The court ordered execution provisoire with a deferred committal to prison, and authorities will set an incarceration date pending appeal procedures.
- The plot targeted former first deputy Gilles Artigues, who was secretly filmed in 2015; a 2017 audio recording in which Perdriau referenced a USB drive of compromising images undercut his denials at trial.
- Three close associates were also convicted and given prison sentences, and the tribunal detailed a financing scheme using municipal subsidies routed through local associations to pay a key participant.