Former Assu 2000 chief executive accused of exploiting minors; the whistleblower speaks
Jacques Bouthier, former chief executive of Assu 2000 and figure of French capitalism, is being prosecuted for rape and human trafficking following four years of investigation revealing a system of exploitation of young girls.
Denunciation of an exploitation system
According to Le Figaro, Jacques Bouthier, former head of Assu 2000, one of France's leading insurance groups, is the subject of judicial proceedings for rape and human trafficking. The Paris prosecutor's office requested his referral to court last summer after four years of investigation.
The case rests on clandestine video recordings. A video lasting one minute and nine seconds captures a scene in which Bouthier appears alongside two underage girls. In the footage, he strokes the hair of a fourteen-year-old girl, asking her intimate questions. He then offers money to her companion, insisting on the amount in euros. One of these young girls, named Aïcha, filmed the sequence without his consent.
This recording is what triggered the investigation. Following its release, Bouthier was arrested in spring 2022. Four years of investigation revealed that these acts were not isolated incidents, but were part of a broader system based on control and exploitation of vulnerable minors.
The investigation uncovered mechanisms of control and manipulation directed at young girls placed in situations of dependence. The prosecutor recognises a system of systematic exploitation administered by someone who once embodied the French "self-made man". The case must now be examined by the competent courts.
Source: Le Figaro