Host Jean-Marc Morandini, sentenced to suspended prison time for sexual harassment by the Paris judicial court in August 2023, saw his sentence increased on appeal this Monday.
The Paris Court of Appeal found Jean-Marc Morandini guilty of sexual harassment against a young actor and sentenced him to 18 months of suspended imprisonment this Monday, January 27, 2025, increasing the six-month suspended prison sentence. pronounced at first instance in August 2023. The host was also fined 50,000 euros for “concealed work”. The facts date back to 2015, when the victim, Gabriel P., tried to be recruited for the casting of a web series, “Les Faucons”, produced by the host.
Gabriel P. had first received two emails at the time from Jean-Marc Morandini, who then used the false identity of Catherine Leclerc, a casting director. In one of these emails, signed “mom”, the one who still works on Cnews asked the victim if she was ready to perform oral sex on Jean-Marc Morandini “who is not just anyone” in exchange for a potential role. The young actor, then aged 19 and worried about his career, then replied: “It is obvious that I am not going to be picky about nudity (…). I will obey what you order me”.
“A psychological gear”
During the first trial of Jean-Marc Morandini, the president of the 31st criminal chamber of Paris declared, while reading the court’s judgment, that the facilitator’s requests had gone “crescendo” to the point that the victim had found himself “caught in a psychological spiral set up by the accused”. The false identity of Catherine Leclerc was also highlighted during the two trials as a “maternal and reassuring figure inspiring confidence” by the investigators, pushing an inexperienced Gabriel P. “to always push his limits in acts of a sexual nature, under the alleged pretext of working on his posture as an actor”.
If the case of Gabriel P. led to the heaviest sentence, Jean-Marc Morandini was more generally prosecuted for having asked several young actors, aged 19 to 26 at the time of the facts, to send him photos of them naked for this same casting. Emails revealed explicit encouragement to send videos of actors with shaved pubes, in masturbation scenes, sometimes with ejaculations.
The verdict of this Monday, January 27, 2025 also confirms the sentence of Jean-Marc Morandini to pay 10,000 euros to Gabriel P. “in particular for damage to his image”, as well as the victims of hidden work. Absent at the hearing, Jean-Marc Morandini will also have to undergo psychological treatment.
Another verdict pending for corruption of minors
On December 5, 2022, Jean-Marc Morandini was also found guilty of corruption of minors before the 15th chamber of the Paris judicial court. The Paris criminal court had this time condemned the host of CNews to one year in prison with a probationary suspension of 2 years with obligation of care, a sentence consistent with that requested by the prosecutor.
In detail, the host was found guilty of having exchanged messages of a sexual nature with two teenagers, and of having pushed a third to strip, still as part of a casting. On the merits, Jean-Marc Morandini was accused of having made sexual propositions to these two complainants and to a third minor, when they were respectively 15 and 16 years old in 2009 and 2013, digitally, but also during ‘a meeting presented as a casting.
During the trial, as during that of the casting of “Faucons”, Jean-Marc Morandini denied outright, citing “blunders” or attempts at “humor” to justify his messages. The host, who also appealed in this case, also mentioned “stupid” seduction games and recognized that these could sometimes have flattered his ego.
After an appeal trial lasting more than 9 hours in November 2024, at the Paris Court of Appeal, the decision was this time put under advisement on March 7, 2025. Until now, the CNews channel, employer of Jean-Marc Morandini declared that the host would keep his post by defending himself behind “respect for the presumption of innocence”.