A modeling agent tried in Paris for sexual assault and rape of 14 young women

Johan M., 43, is accused of having put young women under his influence to take better advantage of them. Some were minors at the time of the events. The trial opens Monday December 11 in Paris.

A 43-year-old modeling agent is on trial from Monday 11 until December 22 for sexual assault and rape on 14 young women, sometimes minors, between 2009 and 2012. The trial is being held before the Paris criminal court. The man is accused of having put these young women under his influence in order to better take advantage of them, promising them an international career in fashion. The prosecution denounces the recurrence of a stratagem which was identical with each of his victims.

Almost all of them gave the same story: Johan M. spotted them in the street, in the metro, or leaving school. The youngest were 14 years old at the time. He convinced them that he could make them future recognized models, promised to train them. He met their parents, reassured them, then isolated the young girls from their loved ones, making them come more and more to his Parisian apartment.

The injunction to lose weight at the heart of the influence

Some who settled there even said that he alternately valued and devalued them to put them in competition, deprived them of food, made them do hours of sport. The injunction to lose weight was at the heart of the control mechanism, according to the prosecution, to facilitate the sexual assaults or rapes reported. This could be during massage sessions with slimming cream or before photo shoots.

“They almost all denounce attitudes which will create in these young ladies an ever more intense desire to satisfy their desires.”

Me Joseph Hazan, lawyer for the civil parties

at franceinfo

“It was in this context of first photo sessions, to put together a book, that he had certain sexual practices to relax their bodies, that’s how he exposed her, with the sole aim of appearing more beautiful , more relaxed under the lens”, explains Me Joseph Hazan, who defends one of the 14 civil parties.

During the hearing, Johan M. admitted that the majority of the young girls had had sexual relations, but they were all consenting, according to him. Ultimately, almost none signed a contract with a model agency or brand. The man, who has already served three years in pre-trial detention, faces 20 years in prison.