The mayor of Saint-Etienne, Gaël Perdriau, is implicated in this case of blackmail on intimate video. He is suspected of having blackmailed the former first deputy to the City, Gilles Artigues.
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A territorial attaché of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council is in police custody in the intimate video blackmail case against the former first deputy mayor of Saint-Etienne, Gilles Artigues, learned franceinfo Tuesday October 18 from a source close to the investigation.
Marie-Laure Poyet is suspected of having participated in the blackmail from afar by providing the camera which made it possible to film the centrist elected official. Searches were carried out on Tuesday morning, in particular in his office at the regional council. Computer equipment and telephones in particular were seized in order to be analyzed, according to information from franceinfo.
A judicial investigation for “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” was opened by the Lyon prosecutor’s office in this case. Seven people have already been placed in police custody in this case, including the mayor of Saint-Etienne Gaël Perdriau, his chief of staff Pierre Gauttieri, his deputy chief of staff Claire Vocanson, Gilles Rossary-Lenglet and Samy Kéfi-Jérôme.
These last two are suspected of having organized the trap in which Gilles Artigues says he has fallen. One of the two, Gilles Rossary-Lenglet, told Mediapart that he had organized a meeting for Gilles Artigues with an escort boy to trap him and have filmed the scene. According to him, the video allowed the municipal team of Gaël Perdriau to put pressure on the former first deputy to dissuade him from a possible dissidence.
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