2022---florence-cassez--what-happened-to-her-ex-companion-israel-vallarta-

While Cassez was freed in 2013 due to these procedural violations, Vallarta languished in high-security preventive detention for another decade. In August 2023, the Mexican government under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador officially voiced support for his release, citing evidence that he had been tortured to extract a confession. Final Acquittal and Release

On July 31, 2025, a federal judge in the State of Mexico issued an , ruling that the evidence presented by the prosecution did not support the kidnapping and organized crime charges. Watch A Kidnapping Scandal: The Florence Cassez Affair While Cassez was freed in 2013 due to

In 2022, public interest in Vallarta’s case was reignited by the release of the Netflix documentary series A Kidnapping Scandal: The Florence Cassez Affair . The series exposed deep-seated irregularities, including the fact that his 2005 arrest with French citizen was a "staged raid" choreographed for live television. Watch A Kidnapping Scandal: The Florence Cassez Affair

While remained incarcerated for most of 2022, his legal saga reached a historic turning point when he was finally acquitted and released from prison on August 1, 2025 , after spending nearly 20 years behind bars without a formal sentence. The Turning Point: 2022 and Beyond The Turning Point: 2022 and Beyond