Ex-boss of Elite modeling agency accused of rape

Nice, September 3, 2001. Gérald Marie poses in the middle of young women who participate in the Elite Model Look contest.

-

• According to our information, four women accuse Gérald Marie, the former boss of Elite Model Management Europe, of sexual assault and rape.

• The facts date back to the 1980s and 1990s and seem time-barred.

  But the complainants are counting on the opening of an investigation to free the voices of other young women.

• At nearly 70 years old, Gérald Marie still works in a Parisian model agency today.

Vogue Russia

, September 2, 2020.

, September 3, Not to mention the

in Spain, August 25.

On its website, the Oui Management agency proudly displays the covers of the magazines on which its models pose.

Founded in the early 2010s, the agency located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris has made a name for itself thanks in particular to the interpersonal skills of its owner, Gérald Marie.

The former boss of the Elite Europe model agency, Gerald Marie, in January 2019. - Photo provided to "20 Minutes"

At nearly 70 years old, the former right-hand man of John Casablancas is still considered today as a leading figure in the modeling world.

He was the one who popularized the Elite Model Look contest in the late 1980s. He was the one who hatched

such as Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista, too.

But today, it is for other reasons that he risks being talked about as Fashion Week opens this Monday in Paris.

According to our information, the former boss of Elite Europe is targeted by a series of accusations of sexual abuse dating back to the 1980s and 1990s. A complaint for "sexual assault" and three reports for acts of "rape" and "Rape on a minor" targeting him by name were filed with the Paris prosecutor's office on Monday, September 21.

The founder of the Elite agency John Casablancas (left), the photographer Patrick Demarchelier (center) and the president of Elite Europe Gérald Marie in 1996. - BOULET / BEBERT BRUNO / SIPA

“You start with him!

He has the biggest… ”

Lawyer for the four women at the origin of the procedure, Anne-Claire Le Jeune knows well that the facts denounced go back more than twenty years and can not, for the most part, lead to prosecutions today.

But she assumes her approach.

"In many similar cases, the testimonies of rape victims, even prescribed, have encouraged other victims to speak out and file a complaint in turn," she confides.

As in the Epstein-Brunel case, a year ago, she therefore hopes that the prosecution will open a preliminary investigation.

If this is the case, Lisa Brinkworth's testimony, to which 

 had access, will feature prominently.

This British journalist succeeded, at the end of the 1990s, in infiltrating the world of modeling agencies in order to investigate suspicions of sexual abuse for the BBC, precisely.

It was in this context that she found herself in Milan (Italy), on October 5, 1998. At dinner, there were executives from the Elite agency, including Gérald Marie and several models, some aged from to barely 16 years old.

She films the scene with a camera hidden in her handbag

.

British journalist Lisa Brinkworth in 1998 and today.

- Lisa Brinkworth

After asking him to pay the bill by giving blowjobs to all the guests - "You start with him!"

He has the biggest… ”- Gérald Marie suggests that Lisa Brinkworth continue the evening in“ a whore bar ”.

In this establishment with red velvet benches, the mannequin agent insists, heavily.

"I'll give you 1 million lire [the equivalent of 600 euros] if I fuck you!"

"In a very" boy club "atmosphere, one of Gérald Marie's associates even tries to convince her:" He's the boss of Elite, you don't know your luck… "The rest was not filmed , it seems because of a technical problem.

Transcription of the exchanges between Lisa Brinkworth and Gérald Marie.

- P. BERRY

Transcription of the exchanges between Lisa Brinkworth and Gérald Marie.

- P. BERRY

The journalist resists.

But she remains on site for the purposes of her investigation.

And then everything changes.

According to her story, “all of a sudden, Gerald Marie sat astride me and simulated a sexual act,” she tells 

.

I could feel his erection.

I tried to push him away.

I was terrified.

I thought he was going to rape me.

All the Elite agents were laughing.

"

Swedish portfolio and digital rape

Looking back, Lisa Brinkworth says to herself that she probably owes her salvation to the fact that she was not alone with Gerald Marie.

This is not the case for the three other plaintiffs who reported facts of "rape" and "rape of a minor" to the Paris prosecutor's office.

In testimonies that 

 was able to consult, Jill Dodd, Carré Otis-Sutton and Ebba Karlsson all three describe the way in which the former boss of Elite Europe asked for sexual favors when they were 19, 17 and 21 years old.

Jill Dodd and Carre Sutton thus tell of having been raped in the apartment of Gerald Marie, in which they lived at a time when they hoped to break into the world of modeling.

As for Ebba Karlssson, she explains that she suffered a digital rape in the agent's office while he was showing her the portfolio of one of her Swedish compatriots.

"If you want to be like her and better, to have six-figure contracts, you have to give something back," he would have told her, according to his testimony.

Ebba Karlsson: "Gerald Marie said to me: '' You know what they all did to become famous?" "Before she can answer, the agent," slips his hand under (her) skirt »And penetrates her, according to her story corroborated by her ex-boyfriend #TimesUp pic.twitter.com/Wq5txgt82C

- Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) January 19, 2020

A surrealist passage in "Everyone talks about it"

In their respective complaints, the four women stress their difficulty in realizing that they have been assaulted.

And, above all, on the difficulty of talking about it today.

They indicate that they are doing it to prevent Gerald Marie from making other victims, while he is still in the modeling business today.

Words that should not surprise the person concerned.

If he was never worried by justice, the agent of models struggles with a sulphurous reputation since the end of the years 1990. At the time, he had wanted to defend himself in the program of Thierry Ardisson 

.

In a rather surreal sequence, he arrived on the set flanked by two mannequins and took lightly and smiling the accusations against him.

Contacted many times since January by 

, he never wanted to answer our questions.

Justice

Who is Gérald Marie, the former boss of Elite Europe accused of rape by former models?

World

"Everyone knew" ... Models denounce the alleged abuses of their agents since the 1980s

An agreement between the BBC and Elite at the heart of the matter

Lisa Brinkworth's alleged assault was not filmed, but a witness was present: her colleague Donal MacIntyre, who was then posing as a photographer.

Reached by 

, he refers to his affidavit of 2001: “When I turned around, I saw that [Gerald] Marie was sitting on Lisa and I heard her insistently say '' no ''.

By the time I realized what was going on, the incident was over.

Lisa was clearly shaken, and when we got back to the hotel she was in tears ”.

Back at the hotel, the young journalist recounts, on the spot, what she has just experienced in front of the camera, at 4 am, in the company of two executive producers from the BBC.

A source who saw the recording recalls "that she looked in shock, visibly after an incident of a sexual nature."

Lisa Brinkworth says she was pressured by producers to ignore the alleged incident: “They ordered me not to lodge an official complaint with the French authorities because it would have compromised our investigation.

"

The video of her testimony is in the archives of the BBC today, which refused to allow the journalist - or 

- to access it, due to an out-of-court settlement reached with Elite, which had attacked the defamation chain.

This video could prove to be crucial in the context of his complaint filed in France.

“Ms. Brinkworth was prevented from gaining access to this evidence.

We consider that this is an insurmountable obstacle likely to suspend the limitation period, ”denounces his lawyer Anne-Claire Le Jeune.

• MeToo

• Sexual violence

• Mannequin

• Epstein case

• Jean-Luc Brunel

• Sexual assault

• Rape

• Justice

• Fashion week

• Mannequin