'Catastrophic end' to Le Pen's political career
This is a "catastrophic end" to Marine Le Pen's political career, our **[Europe correspondent Adam Parsons](https://news.sky.com/author/adam-parsons-585#:~:text=Biography,fallout%20from%20the%20financial%20crisis.)** says.
Parsons notes this is a "very hard sentence" for Le Pen.
"In geopolitical terms what this has done is make Le Pen ineligible to run to be president," he says.
"For her, this is a catastrophic end to a political career that has seen lots of ups and downs but appeared as if it might be heading to its summit.
"Le Pen was the narrow favourite to win the 2027 presidential election and that would have been the culmination of generational work.
"To take a hard-right political party and make it palatable to the voters. But she has been brought down by embezzlement and the European parliament."
Le Pen handed prison sentence - but will not serve jailtime
Marine Le Pen has also been handed a prison sentence after being found guilty of embezzlement - four years, two suspended.
However, she will not see the inside of a jail cell.
As above, two years are suspended - and the other two can be spent with an electronic tag, rather than in custody.
She's also been given a €100,000 (£82,635) fine.
What has Le Pen been found guilty of?
Marine Le Pen and 24 other officials from her National Rally party were accused of diverting more than €3m (£2.51m) of European Parliament funds to pay France-based staff between 2004 and 2016.
The judge also handed down guilty verdicts to eight other current or former members of Le Pen's party who, like her, previously served as MEPs in the European Parliament.
Judge Benedicte de Perthuis ruled: "It was established that all these people were actually working for the party, that their (EU) lawmaker had not given them any tasks.
"The investigations also showed that these were not administrative errors... but embezzlement within the framework of a system put in place to reduce the party's costs."
Marine Le Pen barred from running for office after being found guilty in embezzlement case
Welcome to our live coverage.
French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for public office for five years after being found guilty in an embezzlement case.
The ban will derail her hopes of running for the presidential election in 2027.
Sitting in the front row in the court in Paris, Le Pen showed no immediate reaction as the chief judge read the verdict.