A FORMER modelling boss is facing fresh allegations of rape and human trafficking five years after he dodged previous charges on a technicality
Ibiza-based Gerald Marie, the one-time head of notorious modelling agency Elite, is facing accusations from six women, including one who was a minor at the time.
The former European head of the Elite modelling agency, who was once married to supermodel Linda Evangelista, has denied the allegations filed in Paris.
Frenchman Marie, 76, who once helped manage stars including Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford, has maintained a home in Ibiza since at least the late 1980s or early 1990s, and was noted for having others in Manhattan, Saint-Tropez and Paris.
It is believed that he has resided in Ibiza for nearly a decade since his decision to retire.
The six women accusing him, now aged between 45 and 65, filed civil complaints alleging attacks dating back to the 1980s and 1990s. Two are making complaints against Marie for the first time.
Their lawyer, Mathias Darmon, said one of the women was a minor when the alleged abuse took place.
The complaints follow a case filed in June by former American supermodel Carré Otis, who alleges that Marie raped her when she was 17 and was involved in human trafficking.
The women allege that Marie ‘used his position of authority, influence, and power for decades to obtain forced sexual relations with numerous young women, some of whom were minors at the time’.
Some had previously complained in 2020 or 2021, but two are now doing so for the first time, Darmon confirmed.
Elite Model Management became one of the most powerful agencies in the fashion industry and was credited with inventing the ‘supermodel’ era.
It was later connected to Epstein’s network of abuse after a 2019 lawsuit alleged that founder John Casablancas sent a 15-year-old female model to meet a photographer later identified as Epstein himself, who then sexually assaulted her.
Marie, who was behind the Elite Model Look competition in the late 1980s, was accused by more than a dozen former models in 2021.
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However, an earlier investigation was dismissed on the grounds that the allegations were time-barred. Under French law, the limitation period can be extended in cases involving alleged sexual abuse of minors, potentially allowing some claims to proceed.
In 2023, French prosecutors also dismissed a complaint by former BBC journalist Lisa Brinkworth over an alleged 1988 assault in Milan, again because of the statute of limitations.
Brinkworth said Marie offered her around €600 to sleep with him during an undercover investigation into Elite. When she refused, she alleged that he sat on top of her and simulated a sexual act.
The incident was later discussed in the 60 Minutes documentary Beauty and the Creep, which also featured former British model Paula Thomas.
Thomas told the programme: “He basically said if you want to be paid you’re going to have to have sex with me.”
Brinkworth said she was ‘terrified’ when the man she had been investigating became the alleged perpetrator of an attack against her.
In 2020, Brinkworth and other women also urged French authorities to investigate Marie over possible links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Marie’s lawyer said he ‘categorically denies these accusations’, arguing that they had already been examined during a thorough investigation by the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Marie has previously denied allegations of sexual assault, while former wife Linda Evangelista has publicly expressed support for women who have accused him.
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