Paris Tribunal Sentences Individual to Six-Month Suspended Prison and €20,000 Fine for Obstructing AMF Investigation
Summary
The Paris Tribunal Correctionnel sentenced a natural person to a six-month suspended prison sentence and a €20,000 fine for obstructing an AMF house search conducted as part of an investigation into suspected market abuse. The court also ordered the individual to pay €1 in non-pecuniary damages and €5,000 in procedural costs to the AMF. The Paris Cour d'Appel previously upheld the search authorization and found the search and seizure operations valid on appeal.
Individuals and firms subject to AMF jurisdiction should note that obstructing regulator investigations carries criminal consequences under the Monetary and Financial Code. The successful prosecution—supported by the Paris Cour d'Appel upholding the search authorization on the basis that the AMF's request contained sufficient indications to establish a presumption of market abuse—demonstrates that courts treat interference with market oversight seriously. Any person requested to cooperate with an AMF inspection or investigation should seek legal counsel before taking any action that could be characterized as obstruction.
What changed
The Paris Tribunal Correctionnel convicted and sentenced a natural person for obstructing an AMF investigation, imposing a six-month suspended prison sentence and a €20,000 fine. The obstruction consisted of initially refusing AMF investigators (accompanied by a judicial police officer) access during an authorized house search in July 2023 related to suspected market abuse. The court dismissed the individual's appeals against both the search authorization (upheld by Paris Cour d'Appel in July 2024) and the search and seizure operations (found valid in May 2025).\n\nFinancial market participants under AMF jurisdiction should note that obstructing the regulator's inspections or investigations constitutes a criminal offence under the Monetary and Financial Code, with statutory maximum penalties of up to two years' imprisonment and a fine of up to €300,000.
Penalties
Six-month suspended prison sentence; €20,000 fine; €1 in non-pecuniary damages to AMF; €5,000 in procedural costs to AMF
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Offence of obstructing an AMF investigation sentenced by the Paris Tribunal Correctionnel
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Offence of obstructing an AMF investigation sentenced by the Paris Tribunal CorrectionnelPartager sur Facebook
17 April 2026)
Offence of obstructing an AMF investigation sentenced by the Paris Tribunal Correctionnel
In a decision dated 9 April 2026, the Paris Tribunal Correctionnel sentenced a natural person who had obstructed a house search that was being carried out by the AMF as part of an investigation into suspected market abuse. The court handed down a six-month suspended prison sentence and a fine.
It is a criminal offence for any person to obstruct an inspection or investigation of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). In a decision dated 9 April 2026, the Paris Tribunal Correctionnel reiterated this fact.
Following a report made to the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office in May 2024 and a complaint lodged by the regulator in September 2024, the Tribunal Correctionnel handed down a six-month suspended prison sentence and a €20,000 fine to a natural person for having obstructed the proper conduct of an AMF house search operation.
Search by AMF investigators obstructed
In accordance with the law, this house search had been authorised in advance by the Juge des Libertés et de la Détention (judge tasked with release and detention decisions) as part of an investigation being carried out by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers into possible market abuse. In July 2023, when the AMF investigators, accompanied by a judicial police officer, arrived at the home of the person in question, he initially refused them access before finally agreeing to let them in.
The Tribunal Correctionnel also found the AMF's civil action admissible and ordered the person who had obstructed the its investigation to pay the AMF €1 in non-pecuniary damages and €5,000 in procedural costs.
Dismissal of the appeals lodged against this operation and its authorisation
In the same case, in July 2024, following an appeal, lodged by the person subject to the search, against the order of the Juge des Libertés et de la Détention who had authorised this house search, the Paris Cour d’Appel upheld the order. It considered that the AMF's request to carry out this house search contained sufficient indications to establish a presumption of market abuse.
In May 2025, following an appeal lodged this time against the search and seizure operations, the Cour d’Appel found the operations carried out by the AMF investigators to be valid.
In both cases, the Cour d’Appel ordered the person in question to pay the AMF €5,000 in costs.
The AMF points out that the Monetary and Financial Code provides for penalties of up to two years' imprisonment and a fine of up to €300,000 for obstruction, i.e. impeding an AMF inspection or investigation, or providing inaccurate information in this context.
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