The French Sailing Federation (FFvoile) on Wednesday opened new disciplinary proceedings for “inappropriate behavior” towards women targeting skipper Kevin Escoffier, already the target of a judicial investigation for identical facts that occurred in May in the United States during the stopover of a race.
“The Federation cell in charge of the fight against sexual violence has received reports concerning other inappropriate behavior by Kevin Escoffier towards women,” the Federation wrote in a text sent to AFP.
This procedure is in addition to that opened in June, relating only to “incidents that occurred during the Newport leg of The Ocean Race”, we learned from the same source.
These new testimonies, on which the Federation did not wish to comment at this stage, led “Jean-Luc Denéchau, president of the French Sailing Federation” to open a new disciplinary procedure.
An investigation had been opened in early July by the Paris prosecutor’s office against the 43-year-old navigator after an initial report made by the FFvoile for facts “related to sexual assault”, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“After analysis of the first elements, the brigade for the repression of delinquency against people was seized,” said the prosecution. In mid-June, Le Canard Enchaîné had reported the testimony of several people describing “repeated slippages” by the Breton navigator towards women.
Contacted Wednesday afternoon by AFP, the browser did not react immediately. Kevin Escoffier won The Ocean Race in 2017-18 and also has the Transat Jacques-Vabre 2005 to his name, as well as the Jules-Verne Trophy in 2012, on Loïck Peyron’s Maxi Banque Populaire V.
Before leaving the PRB-Holcim team, he wanted to take on the next Vendée Globe in 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.