Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of illegally financing his election campaign in 2012.
In May, the court began hearing the case against Sarkozy.
The verdict was handed down in the absence of Sarkozy, who was not present at the last meeting. The court finds that Sarkozy continued to hold pre-election rallies despite exceeding the statutory spending limit. More than 42 million euros were spent on the campaign instead of the allowable 22 million euros.
The court has not yet ruled. The charge required one year in prison, including six months probation.
Jerome Lavrov, Sarkozy’s deputy head of the 2012 election campaign and one of 13 defendants, has publicly admitted that he led the diversion of funds paid to the PR agency Bygmalion to cover campaign expenses. He said he acted on his own initiative.
Among the accused are two co-founders of the agency. One of them, Guy Alves, publicly admitted false reporting. In 2014, lawyer Bygmalion stated that the company was operating under political pressure.