**French** far-right leader Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement today by a French court and banned from running for political office for five years, in addition to a jail sentence and fine. Le Pen was considered a leading contender in France’s 2027 presidential election, having transformed the far-right National Rally, or RN—which was founded by her father—into a mainstream political party. ([Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/03/31/france-marine-le-pen-embezzlement-guilty-verdict/))
The trial of Marine Le Pen has been looming over French politics for more than a year, in large part because of its ramifications for the 2027 election. French President Emmanuel Macron, who beat Le Pen in the second round of the last two contests, will be unable to run due to term limits. Given that Le Pen was considered by most observers to be the early frontrunner ahead of the next election, she has painted the trial—and now her conviction—as a politically motivated attack.
But it is worth noting that there is plenty of precedent for the kinds of convictions handed down today. Specifically, Le Pen and 24 others were found guilty of using nearly $5 million in funds allotted for European Parliament assistants to instead pay staff working for the RN in France between 2004 and 2016. These kinds of schemes, both at the French and EU level, date back decades, a point that Le Pen’s attorneys made in court. But while that may be true, convictions for these schemes are also not new, meaning the “everyone is doing it” defense holds little sway.
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