No one has escaped, near or far, these emails which have flooded France by the thousands.
“You are the subject of prosecution for pedophilia, pornography, sex trafficking…” alerted the transmitter, an alleged gendarmerie officer, police officer or even magistrate, with only one alternative: pay a fine and bury the case, or go to a judicial summons, at the risk of seeing his name exposed to popular vindictiveness.
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10,000 reports, 287 complaints and more than 3 million euros paid in France by frightened victims, average age 60 years.
“This is a phenomenon of exceptional magnitude,” recalls, with PowerPoint support, the public prosecutor, Sophie Gschwind, this Monday afternoon at the opening of her requisitions, at the Paris judicial court.
This is the “usurpation” affair, forty-eight volumes, and this first trial in France.
Since the beginning of the month, fourteen men have been tried for fraud and organized gang money laundering.
Firm sentences were requested against thirteen of them, ranging from 18 months to 3 years in prison, with a portion of probation, and for all, fines of up to 100,000 euros.
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