What do we know about the blackmail of intimate video at the town hall of Saint-Etienne?

• The Mediapart

  news site

  published a long investigation on Friday showing how the entourage of the mayor LR of Saint-Étienne, Gaël Perdriau, had trapped his first centrist deputy Gilles Artigues, by filming him without his knowledge with a man during a intimate evening in 2014.

• The latter, who left his post as first deputy last May, has just filed a complaint on Monday for "aggravated blackmail" against Gaël Perdriau.

• 20 Minutes

  returns to the main questions raised by this possible political scandal.

A new storm has just hit the Saint-Etienne region on Friday, but this one is political.

Mediapart has indeed revealed that Gilles Artigues, first deputy mayor of Saint-Etienne Gaël Perdriau from 2014 to May 2022, was throughout this period the victim of intimate video blackmail.

According to AFP, he is also filing a complaint on Monday for "aggravated blackmail" against the elected LR, after the revelations of the news site.

returns this Monday to the main questions raised by this extraordinary case.

Who are the political figures involved in the "Mediapart" investigation?

The long investigation published Friday by

essentially concerns four politicians from Saint-Etienne.

The victim of blackmail, Gilles Artigues (57), was UDF deputy for the Loire from 2002 to 2007 before becoming a MoDem candidate for mayor of Saint-Etienne in 2008 (beaten in the second round by the socialist Maurice Vincent) then alongside of Gaël Perdriau (UMP then LR) on the list that won the following two municipal elections in Sainté, in 2014 and 2020. This certified mathematics teacher, who also chaired the Christian association Jeunes pour une foi, held the position of first assistant to Gaël Perdriau at the city of Saint-Etienne for eight years.

And this before resigning last May.

Facing him, we therefore find Gaël Perdriau (50 years old), against whom Gilles Artigues has just filed a complaint on Monday for “aggravated blackmail” on the sextape.

, the elected LR would have

relied in 2014 on his current deputy in charge of education and youth, Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, to set up a political trap targeting Gilles Artigues.

Gaël Perdriau would have been wary of his circumstantial ally (due to national UMP-MoDem agreements) in view of the municipal elections of 2020. Samy Kéfi-Jérôme (42 years old) would then have established with his companion at the time, Gilles Rossary- Lenglet, also involved in the political life of Saint-Etienne, a formidable scenario worthy of Baron Noir to weaken Gilles Artigues.

Namely, organizing and filming, without the knowledge of the centrist municipal councilor, an intimate evening on the sidelines of a meeting in Paris.

What exactly does the blackmail “sextape” contain?

Separated from Samy Kéfi-Jérôme and having "nothing left to lose", Gilles Rossary-Lenglet assures Mediapart that his ex-companion "paid an escort boy on the spot" who spent around 1h30 in the same hotel room Parisian than Gilles Artigues.

The objective is to trap in his intimacy this father very involved in the Catholic community, and politician who has publicly challenged an advertising campaign for a gay salon.

According to

, which consulted the video, the former first deputy appears naked, alongside a gay escort who performs an erotic massage.

Samy Kéfi-Jérôme would have shown an extract of these images to Gilles Artigues at the beginning of 2015.

"The message was clear: Gilles Artigues should not make a difference if he did not want the video to come out", sums up Gilles Rossary-Lenglet.

“Mr. Artigues has obviously been lured into an ambush, explains to Mediapart his lawyer Me André Buffard.

He confirms that Samy Kéfi-Jérôme showed him a short video, letting him know that it was only an extract, and that the rest could be much more serious.

Then Mr. Kéfi-Jérôme allegedly began to blackmail political considerations, the looming candidates, and what he wanted from Mr. Artigues.

»

What repercussions on the political life of Saint-Etienne?

Gaël Perdriau has clearly been weakened for three days and the revelation of this huge affair.

"Aware from the start", as Gilles Artigues' lawyer said on Saturday, the elected representative from Saint-Etienne launched a pithy reaction to the local press on the same day.

“I want to understand the ins and outs of this whole affair and I strongly contest any notion of blackmail.

We are on intimate and private matters, which have no connection with politics.

He reserves the right to file a complaint against

, which "insidiously implicates him".

A complaint was in any case formalized on Monday against him by Me André Buffard, for "aggravated blackmail, ambush in an organized gang, embezzlement of public funds and non-denunciation of criminal acts".

Our file on Saint-Etienne

As Gilles Rossary-Lenglet evokes for

, a large sum of money, of the order of "50,000 euros", which he partly benefited from, would indeed have been claimed in return for the video, and would have passed through through municipal grants.

Given the multiple reactions of political leaders of all persuasions in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, who denounce "revelations of incredible violence", it would be surprising if the consequences stopped with the suspension of the functions of delegated regional councilor by Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, recorded on Saturday by Laurent Wauquiez.

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• Blackmail

• Saint Etienne

• sextape

• The Republicans (LR)

• Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes