French far-right party VP shrugs off lack of contact with 'assistant' in key embezzlement appeal 

PARIS (CN) — A major figure in France’s extreme-right National Rally party and former partner of its leader, Marine Le Pen, on Thursday defended the legitimacy of paychecks for an assistant he rarely spoke with in an appeal that could alter the political landscape of France.

In March, Louis Aliot was convicted along with 22 others and the party in a scheme to reroute European Parliament funds meant for parliamentary assistants in Brussels. The National Rally and 12 individuals are now appealing; if Le Pen loses her bid to overturn the sentence, she will remain ineligible to run for president.

In Aliot’s case, some of the money in question went to Laurent Salles, who investigators say actually worked for the National Rally at the time. They found the two had limited contact — in Salles’ agenda, the only meeting planned with Aliot was an invitation to eat a celebratory cake around the Epiphany holiday in January.

Salles was hired in 2014 without a job interview and the two did not communicate by email or any other written medium. It’s unclear to what extent they met in person.

“We only found one phone conversation between you,” the public prosecutor told Aliot during the appeal on Thursday. “Do you really think it’s credible to tell us that Laurent Salles worked for you?"

“Yes, Laurent Salles worked for me,” Aliot eventually concluded.

Aliot justified Salles’ work as secretarial, saying Salles organized his schedule. The prosecutor asked why he didn’t provide this schedule as evidence.

“The schedule? It was setting up appointments,” Aliot said. “There isn’t necessarily any written record.”

Salles died by suicide in the headquarters of the National Rally in June 2025, three months after the trial concluded. During the original trial, he refused to speak, which Michèle Agi, president of the appeals court, pointed out was very “rare.”

“He was a sensitive young man,” Aliot replied. " Perhaps he was afraid of being unsettled during questioning."

Thursday’s hearing was relatively quick. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Le Pen answered questions for over 18 hours; Aliot’s session wrapped up in under two.

Aliot is one of 12 people, along with the party, appealing a multi-million dollar embezzlement verdict delivered in March 2025. Investigators said the National Rally’s lawmakers received $24,500 monthly paychecks meant for parliamentary assistants in Brussels from 2004 and 2016. Aliot was a member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2017.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, with six to be served under house arrest with an electronic bracelet; a roughly $9,400 fine; and a three-year ban on holding public office for misappropriating public funds. However, provisional execution — which would have rendered the sentence effective immediately, regardless of any appeal — was not applied, meaning he could keep his positions as mayor of Perpignan and vice president of the National Rally’s national bureau for now.

Le Pen, who was handed a five-year ban on running from public office, was not granted the same leniency. The court said it took the “relatively modest amounts embezzled” by Aliot into consideration. This has become the crux of the appeal — as of now, Le Pen is not eligible to run in France’s 2027 presidential elections at a moment she looked poised to win.

Aliot has been a prominent National Rally figure for decades, uniquely shaping the far-right party’s past and future. He was a loyal lieutenant to the lateJean-Marie Le Pen, whose antisemitic rhetoric rendered the party taboo, and spoke at his funeral in 2025.

But in recent years, Aliot has played a big role in the RN’s effort to normalize its image and distance itself from its roots. During that time, he was also the partner of Marine Le Pen — the two dated from 2009 to 2019 — who spearheaded that effort.

“He’s someone who remained loyal to Jean-Marie Le Pen anyway, so he’s someone who plays both sides,” Sylvain Crepon, a sociologist who has been investigating the National Rally for decades, said. “They understand that they need to send messages to an electorate that is still hesitant to vote for the National Rally, so they’re trying to soften their image —  it’s a bit of what we’ve called ‘normalization’ or ‘de-demonization,’ and it’s what Marine Le Pen put into place when she succeeded her father in 2012.”

Aliot was in the running to become president of the RN in 2022. However, he ultimately lost toJordan Bardella, Marine Le Pen’s now-30-year-old protégée, who has since become the poster child for the new RN.

“Even though they continue to have perfectly amicable relations, Marine Le Pen perhaps didn’t want, in terms of image, the person who succeeded her to be one of her former partners,” Jean-Yves Camus, a political scientist, researcher and author specializing in far-right movements in Europe, said. “Then, Bardella is not linked at all to the Jean-Marie Le Pen era, whereas Louis Aliot was the secretary general during Jean-Marie Le Pen’s time.”

The hearings at the Paris Appeals Court are scheduled to last until Feb. 21. A verdict is expected in the summer.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). Visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

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