Former Fashion Models Accuse Top Agent of Rape and Sexual Assault

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/world/europe/gerald-marie-france-models-accusations.html

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The former head of one of the world’s biggest modeling agencies is facing a legal investigation in France, after four women reported claims of rape and sexual assault dating back to the 1980s and 1990s.

Gérald Marie, 70, was president for 25 years of the European division of Elite Model Management, an agency that at its peak represented the likes of Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford. Now, in a complaint submitted on Sept. 21 to the Judicial Tribunal in Paris, two models have accused him of raping them, with another model and a journalist making allegations of sexual assault, in episodes that took place more than two decades ago.

Carré Sutton, 51, and Jill Dodd, 60, accused Mr. Marie of raping them when they were 17 and 20, respectively. A third woman, Ebba Karlsson, 51, alleges that Mr. Marie sexually assaulted her when she was 20 during a meeting in his office at Elite in Paris in the 1990s. A fourth woman, Lisa Brinkworth, 53, says she was sexually assaulted by Mr. Marie while posing as a model and working as a journalist on a BBC modeling industry exposé in 1998.

The events described by the four women currently fall outside the French statute of limitations for rape and sexual assault, and some of the accusations have been public for years. But the women and their lawyer hope that Ms. Brinkworth can circumvent the time limit based on evidence that recently came to light. The other three women’s accounts were included with her complaint to bolster it.

News of the filings was first reported on Saturday by The Sunday Times of London. Mr. Marie, now chairman of Paris-based modeling agency Oui Management, told The Sunday Times that he “categorically” denied the allegations and said it would be inappropriate to comment further.

An official from the Paris prosecutors’ office confirmed on Monday that an investigation of Mr. Marie had been opened on allegations of rape and sexual assault, including of a minor. The investigation will examine the evidence and the question of the statute of limitations, and determine whether criminal proceedings can be brought against him.

The accusers’ lawyer, Anne-Claire Le Jeune, said: “There needs to be an investigation because, potentially, there are other women who were victims or who witnessed some abuse. For the victims, it’s a real relief and it shows that their voices are heard.”

“We want to work so that it doesn’t happen again,” she said.

The filings against Mr. Marie come at a time of renewed focus on abuse of power in the fashion business, more than two years after investigations spawned by the #MeToo movement shined a spotlight on the behavior of high-profile figures like the photographers Mario Testino and Bruce Weber, as well as other once-celebrated executives and industry players.

Last year, French prosecutors said they had opened an investigation into the scandal surrounding the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. One name that arose in court documents related to Mr. Epstein’s case was that of Jean-Luc Brunel, another former French modeling agent, who was accused by some of Mr. Epstein’s victims of procuring young girls for him.

Mr. Brunel has faced accusations of abuse himself: Three former models told The Guardian last year that he sexually assaulted them in the 1980s and 1990s in and around Paris. He has denied the allegations.

Ms. Le Jeune, the lawyer representing the women who claim they were assaulted by Mr. Marie, is also representing those accusing Mr. Brunel. She welcomed Monday’s announcement by the Paris prosecutors as an “encouraging first step,” though she acknowledged she was not sure it would result in prosecution.

Ms. Brinkworth is asking that her filing be accepted as a formal complaint, despite the passage of more than two decades, based on an old video. She contends it makes a direct reference to her assault by Mr. Marie, who left Elite in 2011, though the specifics of the video remain unclear.

After the episode, she was bound by a confidentiality agreement with the BBC and Elite, and so she thought she would never have access to the video, but another journalist has recently gained access to it, Ms. Le Jeune said.

“Access to the evidence is therefore possible,” she said.

The French modeling industry first came under scrutiny in the 1980s; in 1988, as part of a “60 Minutes” program, Diane Sawyer interviewed a number of young models in Paris who accused Mr. Brunel and associates of drugging and raping them. Their accounts did not result in a formal investigation.

Mr. Marie, a former husband of the supermodel Linda Evangelista, has also previously faced allegations of sexual impropriety and exploitation, an experience many young models once felt to be inevitable if they were to advance in their careers.

In 2011, Ms. Sutton, a former Calvin Klein model who worked under her maiden name, Carré Otis, published a memoir called “Beauty, Disrupted.” In it, she alleged in detail that Mr. Marie raped her when she was 17 and he was her agent. She was renting a room in his home in Paris at the time.

Similarly, in 2017, Ms. Dodd published a memoir, “The Currency of Love,” in which she reported being raped by Mr. Marie in his apartment after a night out when she was a young model in Paris. “I couldn’t speak French and had no idea what to do” — especially since Mr. Marie was steering her career, she said in an interview this week.

As #MeToo gained momentum in 2017, more models began to speak out against a culture of sexual harassment and abuse that had pervaded the industry for generations.

In 2018, a new French law extended the statute of limitation for the rape of a minor to 30 years, instead of 20. But the time limit for prosecuting the rape of an adult remained 20 years. In cases of sexual assault, such as that alleged by Ms. Brinkworth, the statute of limitations can range from six to 20 years, depending on the gravity of the assault.

Ms. Dodd said in an interview she had been contacted a few months ago by Ms. Brinkworth, who had read her book. Ms. Dodd said she had agreed to join the complaint because “any light we can shine on the secrets of bad behavior by powerful men to alert other women to it and protect young girls is a good thing.”

Modeling agencies are “perpetuating the systemic sexual assault and trafficking of young women and girls,” said Sara Ziff, a labor activist and founder of the Model Alliance, a nonprofit which aims to prevent abuse and exploitation of fashion models.

“Gérald Marie has been a known sexual predator for decades — like so many others in the modeling industry — but rather than a pink slip, it’s only earned him promotions.” she said.

She said, “We are pleased that an investigation has been opened by the prosecutor of Paris, and we hope that Gérald Marie’s victims finally get justice.”