PARIS — French prosecutors reportedly asked last week for 17 men involved in the so-called “French Bukkake” case to stand trial for rape and other crimes.
A source close to the investigation told French wire service AFP that the charges include “rape, gang rape, organized human trafficking and aggravated pimping,” for incidents occurring during the production of content for the French Bukkake website.
As XBIZ reported, the men were arrested in 2020 and first indicted in 2021. The accused include producers and male performers.
“It is now up to two judges in charge of the investigation to decide whether the trial goes ahead,” AFP reported.
According to French press reports, the trial “would be the first time in France that actors are indicted for rape during investigations concerning the pornographic industry.”
Prosecutors, the AFP reported last week, “believe the recruiter lured young, economically vulnerable women into participating in the filming of the videos in the full knowledge that they would be subjected to ‘aggravated rape.’”
Investigators also “believe the women were told the videos would only be accessible on private Canadian websites. In fact, the films were viewable in France and the producers demanded large sums of cash from the women to remove them — only for the images to continue to circulate online. Prosecutors said alcohol and drugs were commonplace during the shoots.”
The female performers reportedly told prosecutors “that they had not been warned before going on set of the type of sexual acts expected of them. Sexual acts were performed on them without warning, without them being able to comprehend them, and therefore without being able to give their consent.”
A Case Going Back 3 Years
The Paris judiciary, known as “le parquet” or “ministère publique,” had opened a preliminary inquest in October 2020 against the French Bukkake operation, led by producer and performer Pascal OP.
After that, around 50 alleged victims were identified, and their testimonies were investigated by Paris law enforcement — the “gendarmerie,” one of the two main police forces, often tasked with fighting cybercrime.
A source from the Paris judiciary told AFP in October 2021 that four individuals were presented before a “juge d’instruction” or “judge of instruction,” equivalent to an American district attorney, and were indicted for rape. Three of them were then put in provisional detention. The fourth performer was freed but is still “under judiciary control.”
Two of the performers questioned by the judge of instruction were identified as Tonio Love and Eddie Blackone.
“It’s fine, it’s housecleaning time! Everyone behaved like an ostrich [burying its head in the sand] about what happens during shoots,” performer and producer Nikita Bellucci told AFP at the time about the indictment of the French Bukkake team.
“If one works with the intimacy of actresses, with human beings, one needs to pay attention and not just follow orders,” Bellucci added.