00:03A Luxury Villa in Sicily, a 50-million-euro-price tag and a prominent French politician.
00:10This story has been circulating online about France's former Prime Minister and 2027 presidential candidate Édouard Philippe.
00:18It claims that Philippe bought a villa in Sicily in 2023 from French local councillor Stéphanie de Besleur
00:25and raised questions about how the alleged purchase was financed.
00:29The story was initially shared by a mock-up Italian online newspaper called Repubblica.com, which has now been taken
00:36down.
00:37The domain, however, sounded very similar to the genuine news outlet Repubblica.it,
00:43in other words, a fake website designed to be easily mistaken for the real one.
00:49The video also cites an article by Affari Italiani, which says indeed that Philippe is being investigated.
00:55However, this has been taken out of context, as the investigation doesn't mention a house in Sicily.
01:03Repubblica did not publish the story and no credible source confirms that Philippe bought a 50-million-euro Sicilian villa.
01:11But, as often happens with fake stories, the names involved were not picked at random.
01:17Philippe and De Besleur are involved in a real but completely separate investigation in France
01:23concerning the management of a multi-million-euro digital development project in Le Havre.
01:29The investigation includes allegations of favoritism and misuse of public funds.
01:35However, Philippe has denied any wrongdoing and the investigation is still ongoing.
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