Update (11:52 a.m. EDT): Canada's Globe and Mail has some details about the raid: "Around ten police officers accompanied investigating magistrate Jean-Michel Gentil on the raid on his home and on offices he has recently rented in Paris, a source close to the enquiry said." It also reports that "Le Monde newspaper’s website said that investigators had also searched the lawyers’ offices where Mr. Sarkozy was once an associate."

Update (11:40 a.m. EDT): To get caught up on the Bettencourt scandal, check out The New York Times' curtain-raiser on the story from 2010, The Telegraph's timeline from late 2011, and The Guardian's report on new evidence of illegal funding, from March 2012.

Update (11:30 a.m. EDT): Sarkozy and Bruni are not in France, having left for vacation in Canada on Monday, their lawyer tells Le Figaro.

Original: French police investigating former president Nicolas Sarkozy on corruption allegations wasted little time in raiding his and wife Carla Bruni's home and offices Tuesday, less than a month after his immunity against prosecution ended. The officers are "investigating claims that Sarkozy received cash from l'Oréal heiress Lilian Bettencourt in return for tax breaks," according to Paris-based journalist Peter Allen on Twitter. Allen continues: "Judge Jean-Michel Gentil believes Bettencourt illegally contributed 2 payments of 400,000 euros each to Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign."

We'll keep bringing you information as it comes out.

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Adam Martin