A FRENCH modelling boss has been served a new writ over allegations of rape and human trafficking five years after he dodged previous charges on a technicality.
Ibiza-based Gerald Marie, the ex-head of notorious agency Elite, has been ordered to court in New York over claims he raped Hollywood actress Carre Otis, when she was just 17.
He is also accused by six other women in a separate Paris case, including one who was a minor at the time.
The 76-year-old, who was once married to supermodel Linda Evangelista and helped manage stars including Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford, has denied the allegations.
The Olive Press can reveal that Marie was served by a team working with Otis, 58, this month, while he sat at a cafe on the island.
We had originally helped locate his Ibiza home, in 2021, soon after the initial Paris allegations were filed.
A journalist, Carly P Reilly, has now managed to put a court writ in his hand in the village of Es Cubells.
“We are thrilled given he has continually frustrated the victims by dodging writs for five years,” Reilly told the Olive Press.
“That was until Friday when we surprised him with the paperwork while he sat at a cafe.”
The journalist explained how Marie had three times evaded a private detective and even Spain’s official court service by ‘claiming the name was incorrect on legal documents’.
“It meant going back to square one and took a whole extra year,” continued Reilly, who is based in Paris.
“All in all it has taken five years as Carre has been trying to serve him since 2021.”
After delivering him the legal papers from New York’s Southern District, she said Marie confirmed he would ‘attend’ court to defend his name and added it was ‘all made up’.
“He said: ‘I really respect women. I’ve got two daughters of my own’,” said Reilly.
The six Paris court complainants, aged between 45 and 65, filed civil complaints alleging attacks dating back to the 1980s and 1990s.
Two are making complaints for the first time.
Their lawyer, Mathias Darmon, said one woman was a minor when she was allegedly attacked.
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’.
Elite became one of the most powerful agencies in fashion and was credited with helping create the ‘supermodel’ era.
It was later linked to famous paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s network of abuse after a 2019 lawsuit alleged founder John Casablancas sent a 15-year-old model to meet a photographer later identified as Epstein, who 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.
The Olive Press tracked down Marie’s home, which he once shared with Evangelista, for a BBC documentary that year.
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