The mayor of a French city is under investigation after allegedly blackmailing a deputy with a relationship with a male prostitute, The Times reported.
Gaël Perdriau, the mayor of Saint-Etienne, allegedly set up the encounter between the deputy and the male prostitute and filmed an “erotic massage” in a Paris hotel room. (RELATED: REPORT: Elderly Woman Dies After Being Served Dishwashing Liquid At Senior Living Facility)
The deputy, Gilles Artigues, claims that the film was used to keep him from running against the mayor before the news website Médiapart published it. Artigues filed a lawsuit against Perdriau, alleging blackmail, which prompted a police investigation into the matter.
Newly elected French right-wing UMP party and centre-right UDI opposition party mayor of Saint-Etienne Gael Perdriau speaks, wearing his mayor’s tricolour sash, on April 4, 2014, in Saint-Etienne, during the first meeting of the municipal council after his election.
Perdriau allegedly used 50,000 euros of council funds to pay Gilles Rossary-Lenglet, a local council adviser and gay rights activist, and his long-time partner Samy KéfiJérôme, the head of the education committee at Saint-Etienne council to entrap Artigues.
Rossary-Lenglet and Kéfi-Jérôme filmed Artigues from a camera they installed in his hotel room. They paid a mail prostitute to give Artigues an erotic massage, a fact which the prostitute was unaware of.