00:03A luxury villa in Sicily, a 50 million euro price tag and a prominent French politician.
00:09This story has been circulating online about France's former prime minister and
00:142027 presidential candidate Édouard Philippe. It claims that Philippe bought a villa in Sicily
00:21in 2023 from French local councillor Stéphanie de Besleur and raised questions about how the
00:27alleged purchase was financed. The story was initially shared by a mock-up Italian online
00:32newspaper called Repubblica.com, which has now been taken down. The domain, however,
00:38sounded very similar to the genuine news outlet Repubblica.it. In other words,
00:44a fake website designed to be easily mistaken for the real one. The video also cites an article by
00:51Affari Italiani, which says indeed that Philippe is being investigated. However, this has been taken
00:58out of context, as the investigation doesn't mention a house in Sicily. Repubblica did not publish the
01:04story and no credible source confirms that Philippe bought a 50 million euro Sicilian villa. But,
01:12as often happens with fake stories, the names involved were not picked at random. Philippe and
01:18Besleur are involved in a real but completely separate investigation in France concerning the
01:24management of a multi-million euro digital development project in Les Havres. The investigation
01:30includes allegations of favouritism and misuse of public funds. However, Philippe has denied any
01:37wrongdoing and the investigation is still ongoing.
