France Probes Millions in Virus Unemployment Fraud

A person walks on Trocadero square as a lockdown is imposed to slow the rate of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Paris, France, April 26, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
A person walks on Trocadero square as a lockdown is imposed to slow the rate of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Paris, France, April 26, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
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France Probes Millions in Virus Unemployment Fraud

A person walks on Trocadero square as a lockdown is imposed to slow the rate of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Paris, France, April 26, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
A person walks on Trocadero square as a lockdown is imposed to slow the rate of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Paris, France, April 26, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Organized crime groups sought to defraud the French state of millions of euros meant for workers left jobless by the virus lockdown, prosecutors said Friday.

France had an exceptionally generous temporary unemployment scheme that subsidized workers’ salaries while restaurants, schools and businesses across the economy shut down for two months or more to contain the virus.

Criminals took advantage of it, successfully obtaining more than 2 million euros from the state that did not go to workers, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Authorities so far have been able to suspend another 6 million euros in scheduled payments and recover 421,000 euros already spent on nonexistent workers, it said.

The Paris prosecutor's office is now leading a nationwide investigation into what it calls “massive fraud” and money laundering by organized crime groups that it did not identify. It is notably investigating potential international connections to the fraud.

Prosecutors in the southern city of Toulouse and the central French city of Limoges initially started investigating an unusually large number of similar applications from companies for money from the temporary unemployment fund. Investigators found that the applicants were using registration numbers of companies that had not applied for the state salary subsidies, and funneled the money to hundreds of French bank accounts instead of to workers.

France spent billions of euros on the temporary unemployment program, which was credited with keeping people employed and allowing businesses to stay afloat during lockdown. The economy has started picking up as France gradually reopens, but tourism is muted and many companies are struggling to revive, and the country is still facing its worst recession in decades.



Pentagon Chief Says Trump Still Aiming for Deal with Iran 

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a hearing of the House Committee on Armed Services to discuss the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request at the US Capitol, Washington, DC, USA, 12 June 2025. (EPA)
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a hearing of the House Committee on Armed Services to discuss the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request at the US Capitol, Washington, DC, USA, 12 June 2025. (EPA)
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Pentagon Chief Says Trump Still Aiming for Deal with Iran 

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a hearing of the House Committee on Armed Services to discuss the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request at the US Capitol, Washington, DC, USA, 12 June 2025. (EPA)
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a hearing of the House Committee on Armed Services to discuss the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request at the US Capitol, Washington, DC, USA, 12 June 2025. (EPA)

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News on Monday that President Donald Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran even as hostilities have escalated between US ally Israel and Tehran, while a White House aide said separately that Washington was not attacking Iran.

"Of course," Hegseth said on Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime" show when asked if Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran.

"We are postured defensively in the region to be strong in pursuit of a peace deal. And we certainly hope that's what happens here," Hegseth said.

In a social media post on Monday, Trump said "Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran," citing what he said was the country's rejection of a deal to curb nuclear weapons development.

Israel attacked Iran on Friday and since then the two Middle Eastern rivals have exchanged blows, with Iranian officials reporting over 220 deaths, mostly civilians, in five days while Israel said 24 civilians had been killed. Israel says it aims to eliminate what it calls threats posed by Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has pointed to its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the region widely believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.

The air war between Iran and Israel has raised further alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel's military assault on Gaza in October 2023.

Washington has thus far maintained it is not involved in Israeli attacks on Iran and warned Tehran not to attack US interests or personnel in the region.

"We're vigilant, we're prepared, and we have messaged ... consistently from the beginning that we're in the region to defend our people and our assets," Hegseth said on Fox News.

White House aide Alex Pfeiffer took to social media platform X to deny online claims that the US was attacking Iran.

"This is not true. American forces are maintaining their defensive posture, and that has not changed," Pfeiffer said.