#White collar crime:
Seven people on trial for an attempted $22 billion fraud against TotalEnergies
On 2 December 2025, a trial opened before the Nanterre Judicial Court involving seven individuals charged with corruption and attempted fraud as part of an organised group. They are suspected of having taken part, in 2009, in the creation of an arbitral tribunal at the initiative of Russian regions and the company Interneft, with the aim of claiming more than €22 billion from TotalEnergies under an oil contract signed in 1992 but never executed, whose lapse has been confirmed by several court decisions. > Read article
#Anti-money laundering and fight against financing of terrorism:
€5 million worth of real estate seized in a money laundering investigation linked to a Serbian criminal network
During a search carried out by the gendarmerie, seven individuals were arrested as part of an investigation into organised money laundering. The operation led to the seizure of eleven real estate properties, valued at five million euros, as well as the discovery of luxury vehicles and more than 330 branded items. This action is part of a preliminary investigation opened at the end of December 2024 by the prosecutor’s office of the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organised Crime (Junalco), targeting a structured network of family clans suspected of having concealed illicit funds through real-estate acquisitions. > Read article
#Anti-bribery and Corruption:
Federica Mogherini, former EU foreign policy chief, charged with “fraud”
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into suspicions of fraud, favouritism, corruption and conflict of interest relating to the award by the EEAS of a training programme for future European diplomats to the College of Europe in Bruges. This investigation, launched following allegations of misappropriation of public funds, has led to searches of the premises of both institutions and to the indictment of Federica Mogherini, rector of the College and former head of the EEAS, as well as two other officials. The alleged offences concern, in particular, the tender procedure and the presumed access to confidential information during the awarding of the “European Union Diplomatic Academy” programme. > Read article
The upcoming Directive 2023/0135 (COD) on combating corruption
Presented on 3 May 2023, the draft EU directive aims to harmonise the criminal law standards applicable to corruption across Member States, notably by introducing common definitions of corruption offences, strengthening sanctions, and enhancing the framework governing prevention mechanisms. However, its adoption raises many challenges, both substantive, due to national legislative disparities that weaken the effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts and ongoing debates regarding its applicability, and structural, due to the broader constraints surrounding the adoption and implementation of the future European framework. > Read article > Download article
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to stay in power and requests a pardon in his corruption trial
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, has officially requested a presidential pardon from Isaac Herzog in connection with his trial on charges of corruption, fraud and breach of trust in three cases investigated since 2019. The procedure, opened at the end of 2024, notably concerns the acceptance of goods worth several hundred thousand dollars from wealthy individuals. He is also being prosecuted for having granted regulatory advantages to the head of Israel’s largest telecommunications company in exchange for favourable media coverage on a website owned by that company. In principle, under Israeli law, such a pardon can only be granted after a conviction and the expression of remorse. > Read article
