- He was accused of improper use of corporate funds at the French Club Narbonne
- Has an international arrest warrant for him
- It comes after a long and decorated rugby career
The former Rugby captain of Australia, Rocky Elsom, was sentenced to two years in prison by a French court for misuse of corporate assets during his time as president of the Narbonne Club.
It was also fined 100,000 euros ($ A172,346) with half of the suspended sum. Elsom, 42, did not appear in court. His whereabouts is unknown and a French arrest warrant against him has been issued.
He played 75 times for Australia since 2005-11, winning a reputation as a prominent flank.
Elsom was president of the French Club of Southern Narbonne of 2015-16. He went to trial for embezzlement embezzlement clubs by making unjustified expenses to pay a coach or a general manager who lived in Australia at that time.
He was acquitted for falsification and use of falsification, but he was ordered to pay 230,000 euros ($ A396,396) in compensation for the liquidator of the club.
His lawyer Yann Braz was appealed.
The former Wallabies Rocky Elsom captain was declared guilty of using bad corporate assets in a French court
The Rugby International Star was sentenced to two years in jail, but was not present for the trial.
During a trial last month, the prosecutor requested a three -year prison sentence and a fine of 630,000 euros ($ A1.1 million). Elsom's lawyer had begged for an acquittal.
In a previous trial in October last year, Elsom was sentenced to five years in prison, but did not attend the audience.
He has been the subject of an international arrest warrant since that conviction. As allowed by French law, Elsom requested to be rebuilt with legal representation, but did not appear before the court last month.
Elsom was named man of the match when he won the 2009 Cup of Europe with the Irish club based in Dublin Leinster along with the greats of Ireland Johnny Sexton and Brian O'Driscoll.
He had been living in Ireland since August 2024 and fled the country after an international arrest warrant against him was issued. He denied any irregularity and said that under his leadership, Narbonne was in a healthy position.
“(Narbonne) achieved solid profits, had good sports results and remained for D2 (the second level of French rugby) until 2016 and beyond,” he said in a statement in October.
“It seems that I have been attacked as an scapegoat for the future poor management of this famous rugby club.”
Narbonne won the French championship twice in 1936 and 1979 and ended runner -up three times. The club came into liquidation in 2018 and now competes in the third level Fédérale.
An international arrest warrant and Elsom's exact whereabouts have been unknown
Elsom had been working as a coach in a school in Dublin at the time of his arrest warrant. Elsom said in an interview four months ago on YouTube that he immediately left with a single backpack when he discovered that Ireland was legally forced to extradite him to France.
When he gave the interview with Mark Bouris from a hidden place, he said he had not been informed that there was a public trial in October.
'This SA is a really important part. I didn't know that there was a judicial case and there was no possible way to know, “he said.