Gilbert Rozon faces new allegations of sexual assault

WARNING: This story contains allegations of sexual assault and may be disturbing to some readers. 

Three women have filed civil lawsuits against the former head of the Just For Laughs festival, Gilbert Rozon, for alleged sexual assault.

The three civil suits, filed separately, are seeking a combined $4.5 million in damages from the former Quebec entertainment mogul.

One of the complainants is Martine Roy, Rozon's former sister-in-law, who alleged Rozon committed a "brutal" assault against her in a dressing room while she had been working at the Just for Laughs Museum in the mid-90s.

None of the allegations in any of the civil lawsuits have been tested in court.

Roy's lawsuit describes a scene in which Rozon invited her into the room for a private discussion, which she says was the first time he had asked her to speak in private with him.

She claimed to have entered the room first, and that Rozon followed her inside, locking the door behind him. The room was windowless.

"From this point on, everything happens very quickly," the lawsuit alleged.

"Without care for her desire or consent, and with knowledge of her homosexuality, he turns her around so that her back is to him," the suit alleged, adding later that Roy felt as though she "could not get out of his grip."

The lawsuit then alleged Rozon raped her and quickly left the room. Afterwards, she says, she felt unsafe around him, and feared that she might have been pregnant or contracted a sexually-transmitted infection.

Following the episode, "[Rozon] acted as if [Roy] owed him something."

Roy claimed she filed a police report against Rozon in December 2017. Prior to that report, she had not told her family about what allegedly happened to her. However, in the time since the alleged assault, she says that she did warn "numerous women" to be careful around Rozon.

Roy is seeking $350,000 in moral damages, and $1,000,000 in punitive damages.

CTV News asked Rozon's legal team to respond to the allegations in the lawsuits, but did not receive a response.   

ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE IN ROZON'S HOME

A second complainant, Guylaine Courcelles, alleged Rozon sexually assaulted her when she was 22.

She was hired in summer of 1987 to work in the festival as an assistant to Mr. Richard Bleau, and had frequent interactions with Rozon, according to the statement of claim.

The lawsuit claimed Rozon had invited Courcelles to a meeting that fall, after the Just For Laughs festival had ended, to discuss a possible promotion within the company that organizes the popular event. 

He had originally planned to meet her at a bar — which she thought was unusual — but at the last minute, he brought her to his home in Montreal's Outremont neighbourhood because he claimed he needed to turn on the fireplace to heat the home as he claimed there was an electrical problem, the suit alleged.

Once at his home, according to the suit, Rozon consumed too much alcohol and was not able to drive Courcelles home.

He offered her a guest room to spend the night. Later that night, he allegedly entered her room wearing just a towel and propositioned her for sex. 

She asked what he was doing, and if he was "ashamed" since he was married, to which he allegedly said he and his wife had "special arrangements."

"The complainant pushed him away with both hands, with all her strength, saying 'no' several times. She makes it clear that she does not want to have sex with him, but he does not take her reaction seriously, instead telling her to relax," according to the lawsuit.

Feeling "disgusted and scared" she turned her back to him so she didn't have to face him. That's when he forced himself on top of her and masturbated to ejaculation, the lawsuit alleged.

The complainant reported feeling anger and shame after the alleged assault, especially since she said she had been sexually assaulted by another man when she was a child.

"She had, however, begun therapy," read the lawsuit, and was making progress, prior to Rozon's alleged assault. 

Courcelles is seeking $900,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

THIRD COMPLAINT

In her lawsuit, a third woman, Marylena Sicari, claimed that Rozon sexually assaulted and harassed her "on countless occasions" while she was working for Les Films Rozon and Les Productions Rozon.

"For more than 30 years, the plaintiff has suffered the after-effects of the defendant's actions," the court document allaged.

She is asking that he pay punitive damages for abuse alleged to have begun in 1988 while she worked as an accounting assistant at Rozon's Prince-Arthur Street office in Montreal's Plateau neighbourhood for Rozon's brother, Francois.

Over the years, she alleged that Gilbert Rozon badgered her to go out with him, cut her lip when he forcibly kissed her, and grabbed her hand and directed it to his penis.

In addition, she alleged he rubbed his body against her at the workplace, during events or at restaurants and slid his hand or arm over her body.

According to the lawsuit, these types of assaults continued for around eight years, despite her telling him to stop touching her.

"Are you sick?" she said after one of several times Rozon allegedly tried to make her touch his penis. She alleged that he laughed when confronted.

She left the company and had breast implants in 1999 after having tumors removed. When she was hired back, she alleged Rozon humiliated her in front of the entire staff by referencing her breasts in a degrading way.

She is seeking $1.25 million in damages.

She alleged the harassment and behaviour continued between 2001 and 2004. She says she loved her job but "the defendant's predation on her makes her situation untenable."

She quit in 2004 due to burnout, and felt she could not come forward until allegations in 2017 gave her the impetus to speak up.

Rozon stepped down from the head of Just for Laughs in 2007 after he was first accused of sexual assault in the wake of the MeToo movement. He has faced other civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault, but he has always denied any wrongdoing.

Rozon was found not guilty of rape and indecent assault in December 2020. The acquittal in his trial came after a complaint from Annick Charrette, who had alleged she woke up to Rozon on top of her and that he sexually assaulted her in 1980.

SUPPORT NETWORK

Victims of domestic violence can contact SOS violence conjugale at 1-800-363-9010.

Other resources:

• Federation des Maisons d'Hebergement pour Femmes
• Shield of Athena
• Espace Sans Violence
• Regroupement des Maisons Pour Femmes Victimes de Violence Conjugale
• Centre de Solidarite Lesbienne