The American model Carré Otis has said she is “elated” her sexual assault lawsuit against the former modeling agency boss Gérald Marie and New York talent agent Trudi Tapscott was revived by a federal appeals court more than two years after a crushing dismissal.
“Definitely mixed feelings and really elated,” Otis told the Guardian in her first interview since the ruling earlier this week, when asked how she felt about the US second circuit court of appeals reversing a lower court’s decision.
“There has been a sense of responsibility that I have with other survivors – other women and men, girls and boys, that have gone through similar injustices and abuses, of course throughout all industries but in particular my industry,” Otis said, noting that modeling, which remains in effect unregulated, has long been rife with abuses against fashion workers.
“It is so meaningful for me and important for me to be able to move forward in the ways that I can, sort of as a representative and standing in solidarity with other survivors who are outside of the statute of limitations and don’t have this opportunity.”
Otis sued Marie and Tapscott in New York in August 2021, under her legal name, Carré Sutton, alleging that he repeatedly raped her at his Paris apartment when she was 17. The civil claim filed in Manhattan federal court further alleged that Otis was “trafficked by Marie to other wealthy men around Europe”.
Otis is among many women who have accused Marie of sexual assault. Her case is in a civil proceeding and he is not facing criminal prosecution related to her claims.
There had been a criminal investigation in France involving some women’s allegations against Marie. French prosecutors closed the investigation because of the statute of limitations.
Marie’s legal team has previously responded by saying he was “extremely affected by the accusations made against him, which he contests with the utmost firmness” and that he would cooperate with any investigation. After the investigation wrapped, his lawyer said: “The justice system has finally triumphed despite the outrageous media campaign that Gérald Marie has suffered for two years.”
The late John Casablancas, who founded the Elite Model Management talent agency in New York, also is alleged to have repeatedly engaged in abusive and exploitative sexual conduct, such as announcing that he was dating a 16-year-old model.
Shortly after Otis became involved with the now-defunct Elite, she fell into Marie’s orbit, according to court papers. She initially failed to break into assignments in New York, but Tapscott told her not to worry: she could go to one of Elite’s European outposts – and she was dispatched to Paris. She met with Marie in his office and he told her she would succeed – but she had to obey him for that to happen, court papers claim.
Marie allegedly slapped her buttocks, remarking: “On my dime, I don’t want your opinion, Carré. I want your obedience.”
Marie allegedly started providing Otis with cocaine at his home – a residence he also shared with his then girlfriend and later wife, the supermodel Linda Evangelista. Marie purportedly told Otis that the stimulant would help her lose weight and succeed in modeling.
Evangelista in 2020 spoke out in the Guardian to praise the “courage and strength” of women accusing her ex-husband of sexual misconduct and rape.
Otis’s suit claimed that Marie’s attacks started after a modeling job one night. Although she then tried to distance herself from Marie, she continued to rely on him for her financial survival in France.
“Every time Evangelista left the apartment, defendant Marie expected plaintiff to let him rape her, which he did repeatedly over the span of months,” her suit claimed.
Otis filed her lawsuit under New York state’s watershed Child Victims Act (CVA). This law permitted survivors of childhood sexual abuse to sue their attackers, despite how long ago they had been abused. The deadline for suing under this act ended the week Otis filed her suit.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of the late financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s many accusers, sued Britain’s Prince Andrew in New York under the same statute, ultimately accepting a settlement.
The judge overseeing Otis’s case, Mary Kay Vyskocil, sided in August 2022 with Tapscott’s motion to dismiss the case and said the CVA “does not apply to plaintiff’s claims premised on abuse that occurred in Paris, France in 1986”.
“Unless expressly indicated otherwise, a New York statute does not apply outside the state,” Vysocil added. The judge also said that Otis’s legal claims of fraud, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress were beyond the statute of limitations and had not shown how the US court would have jurisdiction over Marie, who is believed to reside in Spain.
A second circuit appeals panel disagreed.
Otis said that the court’s decision on Monday did not provide closure or healing yet, but was still very positive.
“This is kind of a motion towards, wow, we can finally move forward … for me, it’s really the beginning, so it’s more hopeful than closure. It’s a start, where we’d not been able to start,” she said.
Attorney John Clune, who, along with Debra Greenberg and attorneys from the Public Justice advocacy organization in Washington, represents Otis in her case, said the appeals decision meant they had won the right to bring the case. “Now we get to actually move forward,” he said.
Otis urged more legislation like the CVA – and the Adult Survivors Act, used by many women to take civil action, including E Jean Carroll successfully suing Donald Trump, now the president-elect, who was found liable for sexual abusing her in the 1990s.
“Obviously, the Child Victims Act is closed, and the Adult Survivors Act is closed, but these are windows opening state by state,” she said.
“There’s more effort in the works to really continue to push to revive these claims that really should have never expired in the first place.” She hopes that this kind of legislation is taken up by all states to “clear a path forward for more survivors”, she said.
Tapscott and her lawyer did not respond to requests for comment. Marie does not have an attorney listed for his US proceedings.
