Agde: trapped by a medium, the mayor indicted and imprisoned for corruption

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: Nicolas Guyonnet / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP (Illustration) 11:41 a.m., March 22, 2024

The mayor of Les Républicains d'Agde, in Hérault, Gilles d'Ettore, was indicted on Thursday, notably for "illegal taking of interests and corruption", and placed in pre-trial detention after having been trapped and then corrupted by a medium, announced the Béziers prosecutor. This 44-year-old woman, self-employed in Agde, who presents herself as a clairvoyant, medium and "healer", was also placed in pre-trial detention at the end of her 48 hours in police custody. Her husband, current director of technical services at Agde town hall, has been placed under judicial supervision, Raphaël Balland said in a press release.

The story turns out to be incredible: this medium is in fact suspected of having used a "stratagem consisting of modifying her voice with numerous interlocutors, including members of her family and close friends", of which the mayor of 'Agde, 55 years old, since their meeting in May 2020. She would have somehow bewitched him "by using this seemingly masculine voice on the phone, calm and hoarse", in order to make him believe that he was "in conversation with a supernatural being from beyond,” detailed the prosecution. “This ‘voice’ mainly encouraged its interlocutors to be concerned about the well-being of this woman, including materially,” the press release specifies.

The elected official denies having committed a crime

Through this stratagem, she admitted during her police custody to having benefited from numerous services of different natures, mainly from Gilles d'Ettore, LR mayor of Agde since 2001, president of the Hérault Méditerranée agglomeration and former deputy (UMP) from 2007 to 2012. She would have notably obtained the recruitment within the municipality or agglomeration of five people who are members of her family or close friendly circle, including her own husband as technical director of the town hall. .

These facts led to her being prosecuted for “fraud, concealment of embezzlement by a person holding public authority, concealment of corruption and concealed work”. While in police custody, she said she regretted her behavior, maintaining that she had entered "a spiral from which she could no longer escape". 

The mayor is being prosecuted for "embezzlement by a person holding public authority, illegal taking of interests and corruption". Before investigators, he admitted to having been convinced of the existence of “the voice” and that this woman, whom he considered his daughter, “was gifted with supernatural powers”. He reportedly only realized he was being scammed when investigators showed him a video of the woman altering her voice. On the other hand, he has so far denied having committed any crime, said the prosecutor's press release.

The clairvoyant's husband, now banned from exercising his function as technical director of the city, is suspected of "concealment of illegal taking of interests, concealment of embezzlement by a person holding public authority and concealment of corruption". The investigation, during which around forty people were interviewed, was initiated in October 2023, before the opening of a judicial investigation against X on January 5, by the Béziers public prosecutor's office, in particular for organized gang fraud.