An investigation has just been opened Thursday after a report made by the French Sailing Federation (FFVoile) on the skipper Kévin Escoffier for acts of sexual violence. These would have occurred in May with a young woman in the United States during a stopover of The Ocean Race, indicates this Friday the parquet floor of Paris. “After analysis of the first elements, the brigade for the repression of delinquency against people was seized”, specifies the prosecution, recalling that the report of the FFVoile concerned “a sexual assault or inappropriate behavior”.
At 43, Kévin Escoffier announced that he was leaving the PRB-Holcim team on June 3 after mentioning “an alleged incident” with a member of his team, which occurred in Newport in May, during a stopover in The Ocean Race. . According to a source familiar with the matter, “the facts are related to a sexual assault”.
The federation initially seized the sexual violence unit of the Ministry of Sports, in charge of an administrative investigation, and then decided to take legal action directly by bringing into play article 40 which allows an authority to do so when she has knowledge of an offense or a crime.
“Repeated skids” of the Breton navigator?
“I made a number of phone calls which led me to believe that what was presented as an alleged incident was inappropriate behavior he allegedly exhibited towards a woman at a party,” explained the June 5 the president of the FFVoile Jean-Luc Denéchau.
Mid-June, The chained Duck had reported the testimony of several people describing “repeated slippages” of the Breton navigator towards women.
Kévin Escoffier won The Ocean Race in 2017-2018 and also has the Transat Jacques-Vabre 2005 to his credit, as well as the Jules-Verne Trophy in 2012, on the Maxi Banque Populaire V by Loick Peyron. Before leaving the PRB-Holcim team, he wanted to take on the next Everest of the seas, the Vendée Globe 2024. He had been one of the heroes of the last edition. Shipwrecked in the storm off the Cape of Good Hope, he jumped into his life raft before being rescued in extremis by another competitor, Jean Le Cam.