{
  "id": 2099655,
  "title": "Former PM Fillon suspended from top French honor over fake jobs conviction",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/former-pm-fillon-suspended-from-top-french-honor-over-fake-jobs",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-20T08:05:53.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Politico EU",
    "slug": "politico-eu",
    "url": "https://www.politico.eu/article/francois-fillon-suspended-highest-french-honor-fake-jobs-scandal/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former French Prime Minister François Fillon has been stripped of his prestigious Légion d'honneur, France's highest order of merit, for ten years. This disciplinary action was taken after Fillon was found guilty of improperly paying his wife a salary using public funds. The decision, published in the French official gazette, came into effect on Thursday morning and was endorsed by President Emmanuel Macron following recommendation from the body overseeing the Légion d'honneur's disciplinary measures. The scandal surrounding Fillon's fake jobs emerged during his 2017 presidential campaign, which ultimately saw him fall short of the presidency. Fillon was convicted in 2020 but initially appealed the decision. However, both he and his wife Penelope were unable to provide any evidence to prove that she had indeed worked as his parliamentary assistant during the time she was being paid. The appeals court rejected their appeal last year and upheld the original verdict, sentencing Fillon to a four-year suspended prison term and imposing a €375,000 fine. Fillon, who is 72 years old, did not further appeal the court's decision. In 2018, former President Nicolas Sarkozy, under whom Fillon served, also lost his Légion d'honneur title after being convicted of corruption. Sarkozy, who is now 84 years old, continues to contest his conviction in a separate case involving funds received from Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi during his 2007 presidential bid. Sarkozy successfully appealed his initial five-year prison sentence and now claims his innocence.",
  "summary": "The case derailed Fillon’s presidential bid in 2017.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}