Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres has a degree in economics, and a diploma from the Paris Institute of Political Studies, a traditional starting point for attending the École nationale d'administration (ENA), a school for high-level civil servants, which he entered in 1978.

Within this role, he participated in the negotiation of an important sale of two anti-air frigates to Saudi Arabia by a company affiliated with the Ministry; the contract, for approximately 19 billion French francs, was signed on 19 November 1994.

Finally, on 16 February 2004, the correctional court of Paris convicted Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres of money laundering, with a €15,000 fine.

In 2005, he rose to fame by defending the controversial DADVSI copyright bill before the French parliament, resulting in a variety of criticism against him from both the opposition and members of his own party.

On this occasion, president of the National Assembly Jean-Louis Debré, a fellow UMP member, is reported to have declared that Donnedieu de Vabres was "a zero who put us in the shit and, from the start, dragged us into an adventure".

[2] Because of his staunch support for the law, he is the target of a campaign of Google bombing mapping ministre blanchisseur ("laundering minister") to a press article about his conviction.