The boss of the insurance brokerage group Assu 2000 Jacques Bouthier, indicted and imprisoned on Saturday in an investigation for “trafficking in human beings” and “rape of a minor”, resigned from his mandate as president, indicated Tuesday to the AFP the group, renamed Vilavi in January.
“The Vilavi group takes note of the announcement of the resignation of Jacques Bouthier from his mandate as Chairman, and of all his activities and responsibilities within the company”, he indicated, specifying that the operational conduct and commercial is for the moment “provided by the team in place”.
The complainant says she has been “captive” for five years
The 75-year-old entrepreneur was indicted following a preliminary investigation opened in mid-March, along with five other people “as part of a judicial investigation opened on Saturday, (…) counts of human trafficking against a minor and attempt, rape of a minor over 15 years old, recourse to prostitution of a minor “and” sexual assault on a minor under 15 years old “, specified Monday judicial sources close to the case.
According to a source quoted by RTL, a 22-year-old woman presented herself to the Parisian police in March, explaining that for five years, she had been “captive” of a very wealthy man who raped her.
Becoming, according to him, “too old for him”, the young woman would have been forced to find a “replacement”. A 14-year-old girl then took her place in the apartment. The complainant managed to film them together in a bed, before entrusting the video to the investigators.
Suspected of having wanted to prevent him from testifying
The CEO is suspected of having wanted to set up a team to kidnap the young woman, seize the video and force her to leave France, adds RTL. For this, the septuagenarian would have asked his wife, two employees of his company, a young woman close to the complainant, as well as a former gendarme member of the GIGN. All were charged and jailed on Saturday.
Founded in 1975 by Jacques Bouthier, who has since run it, Assu 2000, now Vilavi, presents itself as the “first insurance and credit expert broker dedicated to individuals in France” and boasts nearly 550,000 insured customers.