大手モデル事務所の元トップ、未成年者らへのレイプで捜査　仏

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス検察当局は28日、世界最大モデル事務所の一つ「エリート・モデル・マネジメント」の元トップに対し、強姦（ごうかん）と未成年の女性への虐待の疑いで捜査を開始したと発表した。（写真は資料写真）
　パリ検察がＡＦＰに明らかにしたところによると、同事務所の欧州トップを務めたジェラルド・マリー氏をめぐっては、英国放送協会（ＢＢＣ）の元ジャーナリストが性的暴行を加えられたと訴えている他、元モデル３人がレイプされたと主張している。
　パリ検察はまた、「強姦と性的暴行、および未成年者に対する強姦と性的暴行」の疑いについて、児童保護の専門チームが主導し調査すると述べた。
　調査は、１９８０年から１９９８年の間に、マリー氏に性的暴力を加えられたとする女性の申し立てに基づいて行われる。
　エリート・モデル・マネジメントは当時、ナオミ・キャンベルさんやクローディア・シファーさん、シンディ・クロフォードさん、そしてマリー氏の元妻リンダ・エヴァンジェリスタさんなど、多数の著名スーパーモデルを輩出していた。
　ＢＢＣの元ジャーナリスト、リサ・ブリンクワースさんは１９９８年１０月、モデルとしてポーズを取っていたところ、ナイトクラブでマリー氏から性器を腹部に押し付けられ、性的暴力を受けたと訴えている。
　ブリンクワースさんは当時、複数のモデル事務所における未成年者を含むモデルに対する不適切な性的行為についてのドキュメンタリー制作のため、自身もモデルに扮（ふん）していた。
　この他、米モデル、キャリー・サットンさんは、１７歳だった１９８６年に「数えきれないほど」レイプされたと主張している。また、同じく米モデルのジル・ドッドさんも１９歳だった１９８０年に、スウェーデンのモデル、エバ・カールソンさんは２０歳か２１歳だった１９９０年に、それぞれレイプされたと訴えている。
　マリー氏の弁護士、パスカル・ナルボニ氏はＡＦＰに対し、マリー氏は「これらの事実に対し、完全に、そして正式に異議を申し立てており」、女性らによる「名誉毀損（きそん）」に対し法的措置で対抗すると述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/09/30-12:38）

A former top boss of one of the world's biggest model agencies is to be investigated for rape and abusing an under-age girl as well as other women, French prosecutors announced on Monday.
Gerald Marie, former European head of Elite Models, is the target of a complaint by a former BBC journalist and claims of rape by three ex-models, the Paris prosecutor's office told AFP.
A specialist child protection unit will lead the probe into allegations of rape and sexual assault, as well as rape and sexual assault of a minor, it added.
The investigation is based on complaints lodged by women for alleged assaults between 1980 and 1998.
At the time of the alleged offences, Elite Models had launched the careers of household names such as Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford and Marie's former wife, supermodel Linda Evangelista.
Former BBC journalist Lisa Brinkworth claimed that in October 1998, when she was posing as a model while doing an investigation, Marie sexually assaulted her in a nightclub, pushing his genitals against her abdomen.
She was working undercover on a documentary into allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour towards models -- many of them underage -- in certain agencies.
Brinkworth's complaint is accompanied by claims from three former models of alleged rape by Marie in Paris when they were teenagers or young women.
US model Carre Sutton accuses Marie of countless rapes in 1986, when she was 17, fellow American Jill Dodd of a rape in 1980, when she was 19, while Swede Ebba Karlsson claims she was raped in 1990, when she was 20 or 21.
- Too late? -
Under the statute of limitations, which limits the number of years that can lapse between an alleged crime and the initiation of legal proceedings, a prosecution may no longer be possible.
This is one of the issues to be determined by the investigation, which in France does not necessarily result in trial.
Brinkworth has said she was traumatised by the alleged assault, but was prevented from coming forward by an agreement between the BBC and Elite in 2001 following a defamation suit.
Her legal team hopes this restriction on her speaking out can be a basis for bypassing the statute of limitations.
Brinkworth's lawyer Anne-Claire Lejeune welcomed Monday's announcement by Paris prosecutors.
This investigation will, I hope, give others the courage to speak up. This is an encouraging first step and a relief for the victims, she said.
Marie left Elite Models, the world's biggest modelling agency, in 2012 and is today head of the Paris-based agency Oui Management.
- 'No forgotten victims' -
Brinkworth's documentary caused a stir when it was screened in Britain in 1999.
It led to the suspension of Marie and fellow executive Xavier Moreau. But they were later reinstated and the agency pursued the BBC and other broadcasters of the programme for defamation.
The documentary, which filmed Elite's activities with a hidden camera, alleged that under-age models were pressured into having sex and using drugs.
The step to investigate Marie came months after a sex harassment probe was opened against French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, a former associate of accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Brunel, founder of Karin Models and MC2 Model Management, is accused in American court documents of rape and of procuring young girls for Epstein, who was found hanged in his New York jail cell last year while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking.
In February, the prosecutor of Paris Remy Heitz said French authorities will not rule out opening investigations into crimes that happened outside of the statute of limitations, to ensure there are no forgotten victims.
AFP could not reach Marie's lawyer for comment on Monday. Over the weekend, the former modelling boss categorically denied the claims to The Sunday Times.
The BBC told AFP it had not denied Brinkworth access to its archives.
We have had extensive discussions with her lawyers to establish how we can make material available. We?ve always been clear the BBC will co-operate fully with any criminal investigation, it said.