Fabrice Arfi

Co-responsable des enquêtes à Mediapart avec Michaël Hajdenberg.

#Presse Ancien reporter à Lyon Figaro (1999-2004), à 20 Minutes (2004-2005), co-fondateur de l'hebdomadaire Tribune de Lyon (2005-2007), j'ai également collaboré à l'AFP, au Monde, à Libération, au Parisien/Aujourd'hui en France, au Canard enchaîné...

#Livres Je suis l'auteur (ou co-auteur) de plusieurs ouvrages : La Troisième Vie (Seuil), Pas tirés d'affaires (Seuil), D'argent et de sang (Seuil), Avec les compliments du Guide (avec Karl Laske, chez Fayard), Le Sens des Affaires (Calmann-Lévy), Le Contrat (avec Fabrice Lhomme, chez Stock), L'Affaire Bettencourt, un scandale d'Etat (avec Fabrice Lhomme et la rédaction de Mediapart, chez Don Quichotte), L'Affaire Cahuzac, en bloc et en détail (avec la rédaction de Mediapart, chez Don Quichotte), La République sur écoute (avec la rédaction de Mediapart, chez Don Quichotte). J'ai également co-dirigé avec Paul Moreira l'ouvrage collectif Informer n'est pas un délit (Calmann-Lévy).

#Bande dessinée Je suis le co-auteur avec Benoît Collombat, Michel Despratx, Elodie Guéguen et Geoffrey Le Guilcher de la BD Sarkozy-Kadhafi, des billets et des bombes (La Revue dessinée/Delcourt), dessinée par Thierry Chavant.

#Film Je suis le co-auteur avec Jean-Christophe Klotz d'un documentaire sur l'affaire Karachi, L'argent, le sang et la démocratie, qui a reçu en 2014 le Grand Prix et le Prix du Public du Festival international du Grand Reportage d'Actualité (FIGRA). Co-auteur de la série D’argent et de Sang, adaptée du livre éponyme et réalisée par Xavier Giannoli. Co-auteur du documentaire de cinéma Personne n’y comprend rien, sur l’affaire Sarkozy-Kadhafi. 

Declaration of interest

In the interest of transparency towards its readers, Mediapart’s journalists fill out and make public since 2018 a declaration of interests on the model of the one filled out by members of parliament and senior civil servants with the High Authority for Transparency and Public Life (HATVP), a body created in 2014 after Mediapart’s revelations on the Cahuzac affair.

Consult my declaration of interests

All his articles

  • French weekly Le Canard enchaîné seeks minister’s help in sacking one of its investigative journalists

    France — Analysis

    One of France’s oldest existing French press titles, the satirical and investigative weekly Le Canard enchaîné built a reputation as a fearless, irreverent and anti-establishment journal which has recurrently shaken the country’s political class. But it has now turned to the government to validate the disputed dismissal of one of its investigative journalists, following his revelations of a scandal within the weekly itself. Fabrice Arfi, Yunnes Abzouz and Karl Laske report.

    by Fabrice Arfi, Yunnes Abzouz and Karl Laske

  • Why Nicolas Sarkozy faces judicial probe over fake retraction by witness Ziad Takieddine

    France — Investigation

    After a marathon four days of questioning last week, the former president of the Republic was formally placed under investigation for being the “beneficiary of witness tampering” and for “criminal conspiracy”. The investigation in question is into a fake retraction by intermediary Ziad Takieddine, a witness in the scandal concerning alleged Libyan funding of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign. Fabrice Arfi, Karl Laske and Antton Rouget report.

    by Fabrice Arfi, Karl Laske and Antton Rouget

  • An impossible trial: French justice minister tried in a court where his judges are fellow politicians

    France

    France's justice minister Éric Dupond-Moretti is due to stand trial this November over an alleged “unlawful conflict of interest”. He will appear before the Cour de Justice de la République (CJR), France's special court reserved for ministers being tried over acts they carried out as part of their official duties. Mediapart has spoken to judges, legal experts and politicians who are concerned about the nature of a trial in which the country's justice minister will confront prosecutors who are answerable to him in the workplace … and in a courtroom where most of those judging him are politicians. Fabrice Arfi and Michel Deléan report.

    by Fabrice Arfi and Michel Deléan

  • Sarkozy's embarrassing book dedication to man who organised key witness's fake retraction

    France — Investigation

    On June 13th and 14th former president Nicolas Sarkozy was questioned by judges as part of an ongoing investigation into the fake retraction by Ziad Takieddine, a key witness in a parallel probe into Libya's alleged funding of the ex-head of state's 2007 election campaign. Under questioning the former president acknowledged that a key figure in the fake retraction case, Noël Dubus, had visited him to receive signed copies of his book. In one copy of his book Nicolas Sarkozy wrote 'Thanks for everything'. Yet businesswoman and paparazzi agency boss Michèle Marchand, who has been placed under formal investigation in the case, had previously denied that this episode even took place. Fabrice Arfi, Karl Laske and Antton Rouget report.

    by Fabrice Arfi, Karl Laske and Antton Rouget

  • Jailed French fraudster opens up about his links to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu

    France — Investigation

    All-expenses paid trips, luxury watches, oodles of cash and a million dollars: the so-called “crook of the century”, French businessman Arnaud Mimran, has spoken at great length in a prison cell bugged by the judicial authorities about his friend 'Bibi' – the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The convicted fraudster, who is also suspected of involvement in three murders – which he strongly denies - spoke, too, about his relations with French MP Meyer Habib. Fabrice Arfi reports.

    by Fabrice Arfi

  • Gaddafi funding affair: Sarkozy and three former ministers to stand trial

    France — Investigation

    After ten years of investigation, judges have decided that there is sufficient evidence to send former French president Nicolas Sarkozy to stand trial in the affair concerning the alleged illegal Libyan financing of his 2007 election campaign. The investigating judges are also sending three of the ex-president's ministers for trial in the same affair: Claude Guéant, Brice Hortefeux and Éric Woerth. As Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report, this is an unprecedented situation in French political and legal history.

    by Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske

  • French armed forces minister was also targeted by Pegasus spyware

    France — Investigation

    France’s former armed forces minister Florence Parly was unknowingly targeted while in office by the secret Pegasus spyware, sold to governments by Israeli surveillance technology firm NSO Group, bringing the total number of French ministers whose phones were infected with the eavesdropping tool – along with that of President Emmanuel Macron – to seven, Mediapart has learnt. A judicial investigation has established that at least 23 people in France, including journalists as well as politicians, fell victim to the spyware between 2019 and 2020. Fabrice Arfi and Ellen Salvi report.

    by Fabrice Arfi and Ellen Salvi

  • Sarkozy-Gaddafi funding affair : the prosecutors' case for sending Sarkozy for trial

    Justice — Investigation

    French prosecutors earlier this month recommended that former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, along with three of his former ministers and nine other individuals, stand trial for the alleged illegal funding of his 2007 election campaign by the regime of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Mediapart obtained access to the 425-page document in which the prosecutors detail the evidence and their conclusions. The Libyan financing arrangements could not have been carried out, they write, “without the consent and the perfect knowledge” of Sarkozy, for whom “the hoped-for advantage consisted of obtaining secret financial support for the 2007 electoral campaign”. Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report.

    by Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske

  • A French firm, terrorists and a frog: the secrets behind cement giant Lafarge's Syrian downfall

    Justice — Investigation

    How did a major French multinational company, through sheer greed, end up financing Islamic terrorism so that it could keep its expensive cement factory open in Syria? What did the French secret services know about this arrangement? With the help of previously-unseen documents, Mediapart has been able to piece together the background to the scandal involving Lafarge and the story of its massive cement plant close to the Syrian-Turkish border. Fabrice Arfi and Matthieu Suc report.

    by Fabrice Arfi and Matthieu Suc

  • French government hides explosive report on grim plight of Mayotte

    France — Investigation

    Mediapart can reveal details of a report compiled by six French ministries about the tragic situation faced by France's Indian Ocean archipelago. Covering issues such as health, housing, law and order, education and the legal system, the report's contents are devastating for the French state. Drawn up in January 2022, the document shows that the security-focused approach of interior minister Gérald Darmanin cannot, on its own, solve Mayotte's many problems. Fabrice Arfi and Nejma Brahim report.

    by Fabrice Arfi and Nejma Brahim

  • French minister in charge of pension reforms faces possible trial over 'favouritism' to water firm

    France — Investigation

    France's labour minister Olivier Dussopt, the politician in the front line over the explosive issue of pension reform, could face a criminal trial over his dealings with a major French water firm, Mediapart can reveal. The minister has just received a damning report from the financial crimes prosecution unit, the Parquet National Financier (PNF), which suspects him of 'favouritism' in relation to the SAUR group. The news that the minister could stand trial comes at the worst possible time for the government which is facing huge protests over its controversial pension reforms. Fabrice Arfi, Antton Rouget, Ellen Salvi and Marine Turchi report.

    by Fabrice Arfi, Antton Rouget, Ellen Salvi and Marine Turchi

  • How art is a 'tax haven' for the wealthy in France

    France — Investigation

    The judicial authorities are investigating what could turn out to be one of the biggest cases yet seen in France involving the hiding of artworks from a deceased person's estate to reduce inheritance tax. The case, which follows the death more than a decade ago of the great French film-maker Claude Berri, shows glaring weaknesses in the French system when it comes to scrutinising this area of taxation. Now a Member of Parliament is calling for a national register to be set up to record who owns works of art in the country – a system similar to what currently exists with car ownership. Fabrice Arfi reports.

    by Fabrice Arfi

All his blog posts

Mediapart’s journalists also use their blogs, and participate in their own name to this space of debates, by confiding behind the scenes of investigations or reports, doubts or personal reactions to the news.

Fabrice Arfi (avatar)

Fabrice Arfi

Mediapart Journalist

31 Posts

0 Editions

  • Coronavirus: face à la crise sanitaire, la nécessité de la transparence

    Blog post

    Parce qu'il ne peut y avoir de confinement pour l’information d’intérêt général, Mediapart a décidé de créer une adresse mail spécifique — covid@mediapart.fr — afin de recueillir toutes les informations qualifiées, y compris documentaires (notes, rapports, échanges, circulaires, etc…), capables d’éclairer le débat public.

  • Les Rugy n’ont toujours pas digéré

    Blog post

    Séverine Servat de Rugy, l’épouse de l’ancien numéro 2 du gouvernement qui avait dû démissionner suite aux révélations de Mediapart sur l’appétit du couple pour le mélange des genres avec l’argent public, publie un livre-témoignage, « La Marche du crabe ». Mediapart l’a lu.

  • La manipulation

    Blog post

    J’ai fait l’objet d’une manipulation de la DGSI. Discrète, habile, subtile. Je ne parle pas d’une surveillance téléphonique illégale, d’un cambriolage nocturne ou d’une filature avec le col de l’imperméable relevé, non, je parle d’une petite manip' de papier. Explications.

  • «D’argent et de sang»: un livre et un chat sur Mediapart le 10 septembre, de 11h à midi

    Blog post

    Après les enquêtes de Mediapart entamées à l’automne 2015 sur “la mafia du CO2”, j’ai voulu consacrer à cette histoire devenue pour moi une obsession un livre, «D’argent et de sang», publié aujourd'hui aux éditions du Seuil.

  • Rendre public

    Blog post

    La revue Médium, dirigée par Régis Debray, a souhaité m'interroger sur les enjeux — et les risques — de la « transparence ». Voici le résultat de notre entretien publié dans le numéro de la revue actuellement en kiosques (Nouveaux pouvoirs, nouvelles servitudes) et que je reproduis avec l'aimable autorisation de sa direction. Où il est question de journalisme et de secret.