Nicolas Cellupica, the lawyer for the Arès group, chaired by Mr. Piron and owner of the pornographic site, announced Tuesday morning to AFP the placement in police custody of his 64-year-old client as well as his wife, Araceli, 60 years old.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to AFP the arrest and custody of five people.
Michel Piron is retained in particular for sexual assault as well as for complicity in several offenses including aggravated rape, aggravated pimping and trafficking in human beings, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Three men, presented as “actors” by a source close to the case, are in particular in police custody for aggravated rape or in a meeting, trafficking in human beings or even pimping, according to the prosecution.
The prosecution had launched this investigation in July 2020, entrusted to the Paris judicial police, after a report sent by Dare feminism, the Effronté-es and the movement of the Nest.
These three associations relayed the testimonies of several actresses who claimed to have been forced into “non-standard and painful sexual practices” when they were not consenting.
Since the opening of the investigation, “Michel Piron has always asked to be heard by the investigators and to answer their questions openly”, indicated Me Cellupica.
“He has always said on the side of the victims if actresses have suffered acts of sexual violence that he was completely unaware of”, added the lawyer, stressing that “the Jacquie et Michel group has never produced or directed film and only distributes films made by independent producers”.
– “Ignorance” –
“Finally, pornography has never been equated with prostitution: a porn actress is not a prostitute and a director or broadcaster is not a pimp,” insisted the lawyer, who anticipates the opening of judicial information in this case at the end of the week.
“It’s a great day for all women victims. The end of impunity for the pornographic criminal industry”, welcomed Lorraine Questiaux, lawyer for the three associations behind the report.
“There is still a lot to do, but this is a new important step which places human dignity and the fight against sexual exploitation at the heart of priorities in terms of criminal policy”, added Me Questiaux, who also defends four women victims. .
According to the prosecution, “the procedure has seven complainants” to date.
In mid-December, Le Monde had recounted at length the practices of driving carried out to convince precarious or fragile young women to shoot videos. The directors imposed multiple partners and non-consensual violent practices on them at the last moment.
In a book-investigation entitled “Judy, Lola, Sofia and me” (Ed. Goutte d’Or), journalist Robin d’Angelo recounted in 2018 his infiltration into the amateur porn industry and denounced the recurring lack of consent. and non-compliance with labor law.
The group, founded in 1999 and which announced a turnover of 15 million euros in 2016, according to the journalist, based its success on the purchase of amateur videos at low prices in France, before gradually professionalizing its production to come to compete now Dorcel among the leaders of the pornographic industry.
Another survey conducted in Paris since 2020 has greatly shaken up the world of French amateur porn by targeting the practices of the “French Bukkake” platform.
At least twelve people, including the producers nicknamed “Pascal OP” and “Mat Hadix”, are being prosecuted in this case, exceptional in its scope and open for aggravated human trafficking, gang rape or aggravated pimping.
Since then, investigators have identified dozens of victims.
The name of the president of the Ares group appears several times: “Jacquie and Michel and more precisely Michel Piron manages the production of his pornographic scenes”, thus noted in January a policeman from the Paris research section in a summary consulted by the AFP relating to exchanges between two producers X.
After all these revelations, major French groups in the sector, including Dorcel and “Jacquie et Michel”, announced in November 2020 their desire to adopt ethical and deontological charters.
