Sarkozy loses last bid to overturn campaign overspending conviction

Gaspard Sebag, Bloomberg News on Nov 26, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, freshly out of jail over an alleged electoral funding conspiracy, has lost his final bid to overturn a separate guilty finding for overspending in his failed 2012 re-election campaign.

The ruling by France’s top court confirms Sarkozy’s conviction, making it final. He was first found guilty four years ago of ignoring accountants’ warnings and knowingly exceeding campaign spending limits in an effort to sway voters. That verdict was upheld on appeal last year, and he was sentenced to one year in jail, with six months suspended.

Sarkozy already lost a final challenge last December in a jobs-for-favors scandal that led him to wear an electronic bracelet this year. But it’s a third case — over alleged campaign funding linked to the late Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi’s regime — that led to his brief incarceration and drew headlines worldwide.

The former president was released earlier this month from his 20-day “nightmare,” after a court ruled there were alternative ways to protect evidence and witnesses or prevent collusion among defendants as Sarkozy appeals.

Sarkozy has consistently denied wrongdoing in all three cases. His appeal in the Libyan funding case is due to take place between mid-March and early June.

Weeks before that trial, the Paris court of appeals will hear Marine Le Pen’s attempt to overturn her own conviction and an associated election ban that could block her from running in the next presidential race. The far-right leader was found guilty in March of misusing European Union funds, which she denies.

Wednesday’s case, known in France as the Bygmalion affair, centers on a communications firm hired to organize Sarkozy’s rallies. It focused on how his relentless 2012 campaigning drove costs to about €43 million ($49.8 million) — roughly twice the legal limit.

Sarkozy’s lawyers, Patrice Spinosi and Emmanuel Piwnica, said they were considering bringing a case at the European Court of Human Rights, over the way the French judiciary handled the case.

They added that authorities in France are due to decide in the coming weeks how Sarkozy will serve his sentence, adding that judges had previously indicated that his incarceration wasn’t required.