Suspicions of fictitious employment: the "Canard enchaîné" in court

Le Canard has a court date (again). Two former long-time executives of the satirical weekly, Michel Gaillard, 80, and Nicolas Brimo, 73, are on trial in Paris starting Tuesday for, among other things, "misuse of corporate assets" and "forgery." They are suspected of having paid Edith Vandendaele, the partner of cartoonist André Escaro, for more than 25 years, without her ever having set foot on the editorial staff. The couple, presumed beneficiaries of this job, described as "fictitious" by the financial brigade, are also expected to appear alongside the two other defendants. This isn't the first time these two have been summoned to the bar: this was already the case nine months ago, but the fragile health of Escaro, 96, led to a postponement of the trial .

The affair, embarrassing for the Canard enchaîné, was launched in May 2022 by one of its sharpest writers , Christophe Nobili, who filed a complaint against X after making strange accounting discoveries within his own editorial staff. A few months later, the journalist