Eighteen months of suspension from all competition, five years suspended suspension of sports license and ten years of ineligibility in the bodies of the French Sailing Federation (FFVoile). This is, according to information from Journal The Parisian of Friday October 20, the decision pronounced by the national disciplinary commission of the FFVoile against the Breton sailor Kevin Escoffier, following accusations of sexual violence by several women.
In a press release sent to World, Master Virginie Le Roy, 43-year-old counsel for Malouin, indicated that her client, “who maintains his strongest protests and intends to be completely exonerated”, was going to appeal. According to this same document, “ the disciplinary committee expressly ruled out any sexual assault, retaining inappropriate and/or unsuitable behavior in support of its decision.”
“ Surprised » that the decision has ” leak »the president of the FFVoile, Jean-Luc Denéchau, did not wish “ neither deny nor confirm” these assertions. “ In principle, only the two parties – in this case, Mr Escoffier and his council, and myself as president of the FFVoile – are informed of the decision taken by the independent body which is the national commission of discipline, and it is not made public during the seven-day period provided to allow both parties to file a possible appeal “, he argued to the World. “A disciplinary procedure is being carried out against an accused FFVoile licensee; the author of the report is not a party to it”he clarified.
Several testimonies from women
At the beginning of June, Kevin Escoffier left Team Holcim-PRB before the epilogue of The Ocean Race, a crewed round-the-world race with stopovers, on which he held the helm of the 60-foot (18 m) monohull of the same name, after having mentioned “an alleged incident”.
A young woman from her team’s communications unit who described having suffered acts resembling sexual assault from him on May 15, during an evening in a pub in Newport (Rhode Island, United States), On June 12, the FFVoile opened a first disciplinary procedure for “ inappropriate behavior » against the browser.
Mid-June, The chained Duck published several anonymous testimonies from women describing non-consensual touching and repeated sending of unsolicited sexual messages from the sailor.
A second disciplinary procedure was opened on July 31 for “ inappropriate behavior » after several women sent testimonies to FFVoile. The federation joined the two procedures, and Mr. Escoffier was heard, on the evening of Monday October 9, by the disciplinary body to which he firmly contested the accusations.
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