Six women have filed civil complaints in Paris against Gérald Marie, the former president of Elite Model Management, accusing him of rape and human trafficking. The cases, brought before the Paris Judicial Court, mark the latest legal challenge for Marie, who has also been named in a separate civil complaint filed last month by model Carré Otis. Otis has alleged that Marie raped and trafficked her when she was just 17 and starting her career. An earlier set of complaints from Otis and 14 other women was dismissed in 2023 due to the statute of limitations.
Marie's attorney, Céline Bekerman, dismissed the new filings as a rehash of old claims. "My client firmly denies these allegations, as he has consistently done," Bekerman said. "A thorough investigation by the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office already resulted in the case being dismissed. The justice system has better uses for its resources than reopening a time-barred case from 40 years ago." But Mathias Darmon, the lawyer representing the six women, argued that new evidence and additional victims have emerged since the earlier probe. "These complaints are part of a broader movement," Darmon said. "Gérald Marie potentially raped dozens of young women between the 1980s and the 2000s, acting with total impunity. Voices are finally being raised."
The case has drawn support from advocacy groups and other survivors, including Thysia Huisman, who filed a civil case against the estate of Jean-Luc Brunel, a modeling agency co-founder with ties to Jeffrey Epstein. "The courage of these six survivors is extraordinary," Huisman said. "They are forcing a system that has protected powerful men for too long to confront the truth." Carré Otis, who first went public with her story in her 2011 memoir, has encouraged other survivors to come forward, sharing contact details for organizations like Innocence in Danger and the Model Alliance. The legal battles continue as a growing number of women demand accountability from an industry long accused of shielding predators.
Originally reported by WWD