Seven men on trial for MaPrimeRénov' fraud amounting to more than one million euros

Among the seven defendants, six are French and one Turkish, aged between 27 and 46, and most are company managers or entrepreneurs. Six of them are charged with organized fraud, implicated to varying degrees.

According to the evidence gathered during the investigation, they allegedly organized a system of identity theft and false claims to benefit from subsidies for carrying out energy audits, provided for by the MaPrimeRénov' scheme.

Between mid-2022 and early 2023, 2.080 fraudulent applications were reportedly submitted to obtain aid ranging from 300 to 500 euros, depending on household income, supplemented in many cases by a "project management assistance" package of 150 euros.

These subsidies were intended to help individuals choose the most suitable renovations for their homes and to seek guidance from an architect, tradesperson, or engineer. In 2022, these subsidies could be requested before work began and without any obligation to carry out the work, which is no longer the case since 2024.

Salespeople were recruited to find individuals and allegedly collected their personal data necessary to create a MaPrimeRénov' account on their behalf.

Fake audits were allegedly certified with the stamp of two companies holding the "recognized environmental guarantor" label, which have filed a complaint for identity theft.

Lawyer for one of the defendants, Antoine Ory, denies the charge of organized gang association and asserts that his client "is not responsible for the conditions under which the fraudulent solicitations were carried out".

The total damage to the National Housing Agency, which distributes the aid, is estimated at €1,13 million. The public agency has filed a civil suit.

As MaPrimeRénov is co-financed by the European Union (EU), the European Public Prosecutor's Office took over the investigation from the Epinal public prosecutor's office in early 2023.

Established in 2021, the European Public Prosecutor's Office, based in Luxembourg with European prosecutors delegated to the Member States, is responsible for investigating offences affecting the financial interests of the EU (VAT fraud, misappropriation of European funds, corruption, money laundering).

This case is the first case heard in France where the investigation procedure was followed by the European Public Prosecutor's Office.

France has seven delegated European prosecutors working on 121 cases, the total damage of which is estimated at nearly 6 billion euros.