seven years in prison for an ex-influencer

A 24-year-old ex-influencer was sentenced on Wednesday in Paris to seven years in prison and a fine of 80,000 euros, for having organized via social networks a fraud in aid intended for companies affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The young man, whose online alias was “PA7”, was found guilty in particular of fraud and laundering in an organized gang, also seeing himself inflicting a permanent ban on running a business and a five-year ineligibility.

“The court wanted to make an example, it made an example,” regretted his lawyer Me Carole Foissy leaving the courtroom, indicating that he was studying the advisability of appealing.

Also subject to a five-year ban on leaving the territory, Paul Antony, whose real name was, admitted having organized, from March 2020, a scam for the solidarity fund, by filling in falsified forms, on behalf of auto-entrepreneurs or freelancers recruited through flyers and videos on Snapchat.

Many attempts failed but others worked: on the public money paid, he then took a commission.

“The disturbance to public, economic and social order is extremely serious with regard to this opportunistic delinquency (consisting) of looting public funds for pure gain”, declared the president of the court in rendering her decision, speaking of an “extremely lucrative and highly organized crime”.

While the defendant disputed the amounts resulting from the investigations, claiming to have actually received a much lower sum, the court estimated that he was linked to nearly 700 fraudulent requests, for 33.8 million euros claimed and 7.5 million actually paid between March 2020 and July 2021.

Either, with a commission of around 40%, more than 3 million euros for “PA7”, said President Isabelle Prévost-Desprez.

Noting a “total lack of questioning”, the court ruled that his “behaviour”, in particular at the trial in mid-June, was “that of an individual deeply rooted in remunerative delinquency”, with a “major risk of reiteration “.

“Structured Network”

“PA7”, arrested in July 2021 in Dubai, was followed by more than 51,000 subscribers on Snapchat and 13,000 on Instagram.

His criminal record included a nine-month suspended prison sentence for illegal solicitation – part of that suspension was revoked – and a two-month sentence for having a mobile phone while in pre-trial detention.

The court also concluded that there was indeed a “structured network” around him, who had for a time “recruited about ten people responsible for filling out the files in offices in Asnières”, in the Paris region. He was the “front office”, his co-defendants the “back office”, estimated the court.

Julien M., who had followed his friend to Dubai in December 2020 where they “flamed” for a few months, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 80,000 euros, with the same ineligibility and prohibition to manage.

The court ruled that this 24-year-old young man without a record, who also appeared in the box, had been the “right arm” of PA7 “at all stages and levels of the facts”.

“The sentence seems extremely harsh to me,” reacted his lawyer Me Mourad Battikh. “The sentence is intended to be exemplary. My client’s involvement did not deserve such severity. He reintegrated, regretted this accident. This sentence deprives him of any way of reintegration in the short and medium term” .

The board said it would “most likely” appeal.

For filling out aid files, participating in “logistics” or “laundering” funds, three men and a woman were sentenced to two to four years, with fines of up to 80,000 euros .

Three of them, absent at the delivery of the decision, are targeted by arrest warrants.

Finally, a “client” of PA7 was given a six-month suspended sentence. Other proceedings are continuing regarding the other alleged wrongful beneficiaries.

The court chose sentences slightly below the requisitions of the public prosecutor, who had notably requested seven years’ imprisonment and a 100,000 euro fine for the influencer, six years and a 80,000 euro fine for Julien M.