"Le Canard enchaîné", sued for defamation by skipper Kevin Escoffier after an article alleging sexual assault, has been acquitted

The Paris Criminal Court on Thursday, May 22, acquitted Le Canard enchaîné , which was sued for defamation by skipper Kevin Escoffier after an article alleging a sexual assault on the sidelines of a race.

In its reasons, the ^17th chamber acknowledged that the journalists had carried out an "investigation over several months" , that this “ [was] based on a set of crossed and cross-referenced elements” , and that "the browser's denials [were] mentioned in the publication."

The defamation denounced by the sailor concerns an article from the end of October 2023 titled "#MeToo de la Voile: la fédé tacks des tacks" , in which the satirical weekly stated that Kevin Escoffier had "admitted the facts" of sexual assault on a woman and that the French Sailing Federation had initiated disciplinary proceedings against him.

During the trial in March, a 32-year-old woman who worked in the skipper's team came to testify, cited by the defense of Le Canard enchaîné .

She recounted a stopover in Newport on May 15, 2023, during The Ocean Race, a crewed round-the-world race. As she was about to hug the skipper as they joined the team in a pub, he "squeezed my breasts with his hands," she said. "He starts to feel one buttock, then the other," "and his hand starts to go up under my T-shirt," she said. "At that point, I was stunned."

According to her account, the next day, the navigator told her that he had "woke up with images in his head" and the hope "that they were not true." "For me, what was written is the truth," she said in court regarding the Canard enchaîné article.

In court, the 45-year-old sailor felt he had been deprived of his "ability to defend himself." " The article says that I admitted facts that I have been fighting for two years," he said.