Gaël Perdriau, the former mayor of Saint-Étienne, was sentenced on Thursday, September 10, in a legal case involving blackmail through a sextape aimed at one of his deputies. Reports vary slightly on the exact sentence—some say five years in prison with one year on probation, while others state four years. The sentencing occurred during an appeal trial, with the prison term remaining the same as the original ruling, but the period during which Perdriau cannot hold public office was increased from five to ten years. The prosecution had previously asked for five years in prison with two years of probation during closing arguments in June of last year. Perdriau was found guilty of blackmailing Gilles Artigues, his first deputy and political rival, using a video filmed without Artigues’ knowledge. The video showed Artigues in the company of an escort boy during an intimate evening. The blackmail was orchestrated over several years by three of Perdriau’s close associates: his former chief of staff, Pierre Gauttieri; his former deputy for Education, Samy Kefi-Jérôme; and the ex-partner of Kefi-Jérôme, Gilles Rossary-Lenglet. These individuals carried out the plan at Perdriau’s request to limit Artigues’ political ambitions. The incident began in late 2014, when Artigues and Kefi-Jérôme attended a meeting in Paris and stayed at the same hotel. During the evening, Artigues entered a room where Kefi-Jérôme was with an acquaintance who was actually an escort boy brought in beforehand. The two men drank and talked. Kefi-Jérôme left the room, which had hidden cameras. The escort boy, unaware of the setup, gave Artigues a sexual massage. The footage was later edited by Rossary-Lenglet and given to Kefi-Jérôme. The blackmail continued for years until the French investigative journalism website Mediapart exposed the case in August 2022. Perdriau has always denied being the mastermind behind the video, claiming the "sexual compromising material" was created by his close collaborators without his knowledge. He said he became aware of the video in 2015, believing it showed "consenting adults." In 2018, he allegedly threatened to reveal the video to Artigues during a conversation secretly recorded by Artigues, but he claims it was a moment of anger and not for any gain. His lawyer, Jean-Félix Luciani, argued that the court should have considered the charge as "threat" rather than "blackmail," which is a less severe offense.