The court estimated that this man, whose nickname is “PA7”, was linked to nearly 700 fraudulent requests, for 33.8 million euros claimed and 7.5 million actually paid by the State between March 2020 and July 2021.
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His online alias was “PA7”. A 24-year-old ex-influencer was sentenced on Wednesday July 6 in Paris to seven years’ imprisonment 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. 19.
The young man, arrested in July 2021 in Dubai, was found guilty in particular of fraud and money laundering in an organized gang, also seeing himself inflicting a definitive prohibition to manage a company and a five-year ineligibility. “The court wanted to make an example, it made an example of it”regretted his lawyer Carole Foissy leaving the courtroom, claiming to study the advisability of appealing.
Also subject to a five-year ban on leaving the territory, Paul Antony, his real name, had admitted having organized, from March 2020, a scam at the solidarity fund, by filling out falsified forms, in the name of auto -entrepreneurs or freelancers recruited through flyers and videos on Snapchat. He was followed by more than 51,000 followers on Snapchat and 13,000 on Instagram.
Many attempts failed but others worked: on the public money paid, he then took a commission. The court estimated that he was linked to nearly 700 fraudulent claims, for 33.8 million euros claimed and 7.5 million actually paid between March 2020 and July 2021. That is, with a commission of around 40%, more than 3 million euros for “PA7”, said President Isabelle Prévost-Desprez.