Carla Bruni, known for her impeccable fashion sense, recently attended the Saint Laurent womenswear spring/summer 2025 collection show during Paris Fashion Week. The former supermodel and French first lady, aged 56, made a bold statement by flaunting a nude bodysuit under a sheer grey skirt. Her outfit was completed with a fur coat, towering black shiny heels, loose waves in her red tresses, and minimal makeup with a light pink lip. This appearance comes amid serious legal troubles for Bruni, as she has been charged with corruption offenses related to allegations of trying to ‘whitewash’ her husband, former President Nicolas Sarkozy, over receiving funds from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
In July, Carla Bruni was accused of being part of a criminal conspiracy to protect Sarkozy, which could lead to her facing up to 10 years in prison for witness tampering and fraud in an organized gang. She allegedly participated in a £4 million campaign called ‘Operation Save Sarko’, an illegal plan to prevent Sarkozy from going to jail despite being a convicted criminal. Bruni has been placed under judicial supervision and is prohibited from contacting anyone involved in the case except her husband until her criminal trial. French media fixer Mimi Marchand, a close friend of Bruni, has also been implicated in the same case, accused of witness tampering and criminal corruption.
The case ‘Operation Save Sarko’ involves allegations of Sarkozy receiving millions of dollars from Gaddafi to fund his 2007 election campaign, which led to his presidency. Bruni has maintained her innocence, stating that she tries to avoid getting involved in her husband’s legal issues. However, detectives claim that she deleted all messages exchanged with Marchand on an encrypted app before Marchand’s indictment. Sarkozy is facing multiple charges, including corruption, illicit funding of an election campaign, receiving misappropriated public funds, and criminal conspiracy related to the Gaddafi funding scandal. Despite efforts to appeal his conviction and sentence, Sarkozy has been unsuccessful in overturning his jail term.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the former President of France, faced corruption allegations continually and was previously convicted of corruption and influence peddling. He was sentenced to three years in prison, with two of them suspended. This marked a significant fall from grace for a former head of state, with Sarkozy becoming the first French head of state to serve time in prison since the wartime Nazi collaborator, Marshall Philippe Pétain. The legal troubles faced by Sarkozy and those associated with him, including Bruni, have tarnished his political legacy and resulted in significant legal consequences for those involved.
