• This Monday, the town hall of Saint-Etienne was searched for a good part of the day.

  • This action was taken as part of a preliminary investigation into alleged sex tape blackmail.

  • Former deputy mayor, Gilles Artigues accuses the mayor of having trapped him via the services of an escort boy and of having then put pressure on him to avoid any dissidence.

A search was carried out on Monday at the town hall of Saint-Étienne as part of the preliminary investigation opened in Lyon into a case of alleged sextape blackmail within the Saint-Etienne municipality, we learned from concordant sources. .

This search, carried out by a dozen investigators from the judicial police, began at the end of the morning and ended in the afternoon.

For its part, the Lyon public prosecutor's office indicated, without further details, that several searches had been carried out on Monday under the authority of the "Lyonnais investigating judges seized" after the case was disoriented in the Rhône the week last.

The lawyers for the mayor and the municipality were not reachable on Monday.

On September 2, the Lyon public prosecutor's office opened a judicial investigation into the counts of invasion of privacy, aggravated blackmail, embezzlement of public property by a person in charge of a public function, breach of trust and concealment of these offenses in connection with this case.

The former first deputy trapped by an escort boy?

The mayor of Saint-Étienne is accused of "aggravated blackmail" by his former first deputy Gilles Artigues, who filed a complaint last week after

Mediapart

revealed that another deputy mayor, Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, had organized a meeting filmed at the end of 2014 with a gay escort to trap Gilles Artigues.

The compromising images would then have served to put pressure on this father to control him politically, and in particular to dissuade him from a possible dissent.

The author of these revelations, Gilles Rossary-Lenglet - who presents himself as the former companion of Samy Kéfi-Jérôme -, also declared to

Médiapart

to have received in recent years from the town hall a job offer, which does not is not materialized, and the sum of 50,000 euros for services rendered via cultural associations.

For his part, the mayor last week denounced “despicable” accusations which, according to him, “trimmed (his) honor and that of (his) family”, reserving his comments on the facts to the investigators.

Policy

Sextape blackmail in Saint-Etienne: What we know about the case that would involve Mayor Gaël Perdriau

Policy

Sextape blackmail in Saint-Etienne: Mayor Gaël Perdriau denounces "despicable accusations"

  • Justice

  • Blackmail

  • Sex Tape

  • Mayor

  • The Republicans (LR)

  • Saint Etienne

  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes