During this period, he also stood unsuccessfully in the 2017 French legislative election as a candidate for the left wing populist party La France Insoumise.

[3] He went on to do research at Yale University in 2013[1] and wrote a dissertation on the International Criminal Court and mass violence, travelling to the Central African Republic during the civil war.

[6][3] In the 2017 French legislative election, Branco stood for the left-wing populist party La France Insoumise for Seine-Saint-Denis's 12th constituency, where he came fourth with 13.94% of the vote.

[5] Prior to being admitted to the bar, Branco had worked at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the International Criminal Court, an institution on which he wrote two books.

[9] In May 2018, Branco was one of the lawyers appointed by the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) to assist the country's newly-established special criminal court.

[13] Branco represented a French fan club of FC Barcelona in an unsuccessful attempt to block Lionel Messi's move to Paris St-Germain from a financial fair play standpoint in 2021.

[15] Branco was the legal advisor of Russian performance artist Petr Pavlensky who, in February 2020, disseminated an explicit video that led to the resignation of French deputy and Paris mayoral candidate Benjamin Griveaux.

[16] Rejecting the advice of the French Bar Association to resign due to his proximity to the events in question, Branco continued as part of the defence team of Pavlensky when the latter was arrested on charges of invasion of privacy and publishing sexually explicit images without consent.

[19] In March 2023, Branco was invited to join the defence team of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who was facing charges of defamation after he had accused the tourism minister of mismanaging public funds.

Ten days later, he was refused entry to the country after the authorities discovered he had referred to president Macky Sall as a "tyrant" in social media posts.

[21] In June 2023, in the wake of unrest in Senegal, Branco accused the Senegalese government of crimes against humanity, filing a complaint in France and calling for an investigation by the International Criminal Court; in July the French Minister of Foreign Affairs responded by filing a complaint against Branco for having identified French agents in Senegal, accusing him of putting their lives in danger;[22] the Prosecutor's Office decided not to pursue the matter.

[23] Senegal meanwhile issued an international arrest warrant against Branco, which did not prevent him entering the country illegally to attend a press conference of Sonko's legal team on 30 July 2023.

Transferred to Rebeuss prison in Dakar, he appeared before a judge on 6 August and was charged with conspiracy, spreading fake news and endangering public safety.

[38] Reviewed in the French edition of the magazine Slate, the book was praised for its exploration of the networks of power in France, and criticised for its reliance on unsubstantiated claims.