Florence Marie Louise Cassez Crépin was born on November 17, 1974. She is a French citizen who was found guilty in Mexico for being accused of helping a kidnapping group called Los Zodíacos. She was sentenced to 60 years in prison for crimes including kidnapping, organized crime, and having illegal weapons. This case, along with possible plans to send her back to France, caused problems between Mexico and France. Cassez said she did not commit the crimes.

On January 23, 2013, Mexico’s highest court ordered her release because officials had broken her rights by making her arrest look like it happened in front of the media the day after it actually occurred. She returned to France on January 24, 2013.

Relationship with Israel Vallarta

In 2003, Cassez entered Mexico legally as a tourist to stay and work with her brother, who was living in Mexico with his Mexican wife. The next year, she met Israel Vallarta through her brother. The two developed a challenging relationship that made her friends feel uncomfortable, as they believed Vallarta might cause problems. In the summer of 2005, Cassez returned to France but Vallarta tried to reach her, leading her to go back to Mexico to live at his ranch. She found work at a hotel and searched for an apartment closer to her job.

Arrest

Cassez was arrested on December 8, 2005, on the Mexico City–Cuernavaca Highway while riding with Vallarta. She had been living with him and was often seen together. She was detained overnight and then moved to Vallarta’s house in the early morning hours of December 9, 2005. The Federal Investigations Agency, which had informed several journalists, staged a false arrest that was reported live by Carlos Loret de Mola from TV crews of Televisa and TV Azteca. Three kidnapped victims were freed, and four people—including Cassez—were arrested. Cassez was then presented as a member of the kidnapping group "Los Zodíacos," a claim she has always denied. Vallarta, who was the leader of the kidnapping group, also said Cassez had no involvement in the kidnapping activities. Mexican public opinion was divided between those who believed she was definitely guilty and those who believed the Felipe Calderón administration used her as a scapegoat. There was also a debate about whether judges should prioritize legal procedures over justice, as requested by Nicolas Sarkozy. The main issue was the improper legal procedures used during the arrest.

A few weeks later, during a live television show, Cassez called and confronted Genaro García Luna, the head of the Mexican Federal Police, about the truth of the staged arrest. In the weeks that followed, Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, the Attorney General of Mexico, admitted the arrest shown on TV was staged. He also tried to blame journalists, claiming they had requested it. As a result, one journalist, Pablo Reinah, was fired by his TV network. Reinah filed a lawsuit for defamation. In March 2007, Mexican courts ruled that Reinah had no knowledge the arrest of Cassez and Vallarta was staged.

Since August 2006, an official investigation has been conducted by Mexican police against the federal agents who arrested Cassez. On March 21, 2012, three justices of the Mexican Supreme Court concluded that many of Florence Cassez’s fundamental rights were violated during her arrest. Later that week, the Procuraduría General de la República announced it would begin an investigation to find those responsible for violating her rights and for staging the arrest.

Investigation and trial

The Federal Police said that three people were held as hostages in a ranch where Florence Cassez lived from September to December 2005. The ranch belonged to Israel Vallarta. However, a couple who owned a nearby restaurant said they had the keys to the ranch. They also said that a few days before the police arrest, they saw no signs of victims or unusual activity at the ranch.

Mexican courts made two decisions based on conflicting or questionable statements from witnesses.

Cristina Ríos Valladares and her 11-year-old son, Cristián Hilario, claimed they were kidnapped by Florence Cassez. They said they were held for 52 days, from October 9 to December 9, 2005. During this time, they were blindfolded and could only hear the voices of their captors. At first, they did not recognize Cassez’s voice. Later, they changed their statement and said Cassez was the one who taunted and hurt them.

Ezequiel Elizalde was the third person freed during the police arrest. He said he was held for 65 days. In his testimony, he claimed that Cassez and her boyfriend physically and sexually abused him. He also said that they bathed him while he was blindfolded and handcuffed. Elizalde testified that Cassez threatened to cut off his finger and ear and used a needle to numb his hand. He now lives in the United States and continues to say that Florence Cassez was one of his kidnappers.

In May 2009, Mexican TV networks showed a video from the Federal Police featuring David Orozco, a man said to be part of the Los Zodíacos kidnapping gang. He identified Cassez as a leader of the group. However, in June 2010, a court document signed by Judge Eduardo Javier Sáenz Hernández showed that Orozco later denied his statement. He said he was forced to make the video by masked police officers who shocked him with electricity and threatened to kidnap his wife and son. Isabel Miranda de Wallace, president of the group Alto al Secuestro (Stop the Kidnappings), said many kidnappers in Mexico have claimed they were tortured to avoid being blamed.

Timeline

• 8 December 2005: Florence Cassez is arrested.
• 9 December: Police, with television crews present, staged a fake raid on a building where hostages who had already been freed were shown being "rescued," and Vallarta and Cassez were shown being "arrested."
• 25 April 2008: Cassez is sentenced to 96 years in prison. She is found guilty of organized crime, unlawfully taking three people’s freedom, and possessing firearms used only by the military.
• 2 March 2009: Her sentence is reduced to 76 years, then to 60 years to match Mexican law, which limits the maximum time someone can be imprisoned.
• 2009: Cassez claims that the Strasbourg Convention, an agreement signed by Mexico, allows her to be moved to a French prison. A group of legal experts from France and Mexico studied the request. The transfer was denied because France cannot impose the same 60-year sentence as Mexico.
• In August 2010, lawyers for Florence Cassez appeal to the Mexican Supreme Court, arguing that her arrest broke the law and her rights were violated.
• 10 February 2012: An appeals court confirms her conviction for kidnapping.
• 21 March 2012: The Mexican Supreme Court rejects, 3–2, Florence Cassez’s request for release.
• 22 January 2013: The Mexican Supreme Court accepts, 3–2, Florence Cassez’s request for release without a trial.
• 23 January 2013: Florence Cassez is released and immediately sent back to France.

Appeal to the Mexican Supreme Court

In August 2010, Florence Cassez’s lawyers asked the Mexican Supreme Court to review her case. They claimed her arrest was against the law and that her rights were not respected.

On August 30, 2010, the lawyers filed an appeal called amparo, which is a legal process used in Mexico’s highest court. The Seventh Collegiate Tribunal later made a decision about the case, but it focused only on formal issues, not the actual charges against Cassez. The court sent the case to a group of three judges for further review.

The three judges who reviewed the case were: Ricardo Ojeda Bohorquez, who is the president of the Collegiate Tribunal. He earned a law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and has worked as a federal judge since 1992 and a circuit judge since 1997. Carlos Hugo Luna Ramos, the judge who led the review, has been a circuit judge since 1987. Manuel Barcena Villanueva, a specialist in criminal and constitutional law, became a circuit judge in 2000 after passing a competition.

There were three possible outcomes for Florence Cassez: (1) If the Seventh Circuit Tribunal found her not guilty, she would be released immediately and could return to France. This would mean the defense’s claims about legal errors were correct, but the charges against her would remain. (2) If the court found some legal mistakes, the case would be reviewed again, and Cassez would stay in prison. (3) If the court upheld the original decision, Cassez would serve her prison sentence. This would mean the defense’s arguments about legal errors were not accepted.

On February 10, 2011, an appeals court confirmed Cassez’s conviction for kidnapping (scenario 3). The court stated that prosecutors had proven her involvement in four kidnappings in 2005 and that the legal issues raised by her lawyers did not affect the case.

On March 7, 2012, the Supreme Court suggested releasing Cassez because of possible rights violations, including not being treated as innocent until proven guilty, not being allowed to contact a foreign consulate, and delays in her trial. A decision from five judges was expected by March 21, 2012.

On March 21, 2012, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal by a 3-2 vote. The court acknowledged that police acted improperly and that Cassez’s rights were violated after her arrest. It ordered Judge Olga Sanchez to re-examine the case, which could lead to a new trial.

In January 2013, the Supreme Court approved Cassez’s release, and she returned to France from Tepepan prison. Her former partner, Israel Vallarta, said he did not know the kidnapped people and was not involved in the case. Vallarta was found not guilty on July 31, 2025, and released the next day. The kidnapping story later became a Netflix series.

Impact on French-Mexican relations

On March 9, 2009, during a visit by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to Mexico, he asked that Cassez be moved to a French prison. This request was based on the 1983 Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, which both France and Mexico signed. Mexican president Felipe Calderón agreed to form a group with members from both countries to address the issue. However, because Cassez had been sentenced to 61 years in prison and France only allows a maximum of 20 years, Mexico decided in June 2009 that Cassez would stay in Mexico to complete her full sentence.

In 2011, Mexico stopped participating in an event called "The Year of Mexico in France," which included 350 planned activities, films, and discussions. This decision followed Sarkozy’s statement that the event would focus on Cassez, with each activity including a tribute to her.

In 2012, France raised the issue at the G-20 meeting, which took place when Mexico became the leader of the group.

Public opinion in Mexico

Most Mexicans believe Cassez is guilty because she was charged with crimes and released due to legal technicalities. Only 10% of Mexicans surveyed think she is innocent. Some view the Cassez case as an example of crime and punishment, while others see it as a question about how justice is handled. Intellectuals, including Denise Dresser, Carmen Aristegui, and Jorge Volpi, support her release because they believe the legal process used against her was illegal. In contrast, anti-crime activist Isabel Miranda de Wallace, a former mayoral candidate and mother of a boy who was kidnapped and killed, argues that protecting victims’ rights is more important than focusing on the Cassez case.

In popular culture

A 2022 documentary titled "A Kidnapping Scandal: The Florence Cassez Affair" tells about the case and features interviews with Cassez. The documentary is based on the book "Una novela criminal" (A criminal novel) written by Jorge Volpi.