French prosecutors have closed an investigation into possible rape and sexual assault by the model agency boss Gérald Marie, who was accused of a string of offences.
The Paris prosecutors’ office concluded that the alleged crimes in the 1980s and 1990s took place too long ago to be prosecuted under French law which sets time limits for offences to be tried in court.
“The case was closed on 13 February because of the statute of limitations for public action,” the justice ministry said in a statement.
A lawyer for the businessman, Celine Bekerman, said her client “welcomed the closing of this case. The justice system has finally triumphed despite the outrageous media campaign that Gérald Marie has suffered for two years.
“With this decision, it is now established that Gérald Marie is and will remain innocent.”
One of the women who had filed a complaint told AFP that she would launch an appeal against the decision and would continue a civil complaint against Marie along with other women.
Another senior French figure in the fashion business was also caught up in the wave of sexual assault allegations which followed the #MeToo movement in 2017.
The model agent Jean-Luc Brunel, an associate of the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, was charged with the rape of minors and imprisoned in December 2020.
Like Epstein, he killed himself while in a Paris prison in February last year.