Jean-Claude Van Damme is setting the document straight after dealing with severe allegations linked to a legal investigation in Romania.
The motion film legend is responding to claims that he knowingly engaged bodily with 5 ladies who have been allegedly victims of sexual exploitation at an occasion in Cannes.
In a agency assertion shared with PEOPLE, Van Damme’s agent Patrick Goavec didn’t mince phrases.
“We’ve got turn into conscious of articles alleging an alleged affair in Cannes involving Mr. Jean-Claude Van Damme,” Goavec stated, in a message translated from French.
“The reported info are each grotesque and non-existent. Mr. Van Damme doesn’t want to remark or gas this rumor, which is as absurd as it’s unfounded.”
The response comes shortly after CNN affiliate Antena 3 reported {that a} legal criticism had been filed with Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT).
The criticism alleges that Van Damme, 64, had intimate encounters with 5 Romanian ladies at a Cannes occasion that he hosted—ladies who have been reportedly supplied to him by a legal group led by Morel Bolea.
In response to the criticism, the ladies have been described as Romanian picture fashions and allegedly offered as a “present” to the actor.
Lawyer Adrian Cuculis, representing one of many alleged victims, instructed Antena 3, “They have been in a state of vulnerability, with the suspicion that they have been exploited inside the that means of Article 182 of the Felony Code.”
Cuculis additional defined, “At one level in Cannes, at an occasion organized by Jean-Claude Van Damme, a number of Romanians who’re at the moment being investigated for the institution of a legal group and pimping allegedly supplied Jean-Claude Van Damme 5 Romanian ladies — picture fashions in Romania — for him to have sexual relations [with].”
He added, “The one who obtained these advantages knew their situation. From the witness statements, it is rather clear that Jean-Claude Van Damme knew that these folks have been being exploited.”
Antena 3 reported that one of many witnesses relayed their account to prosecutors, prompting DIICOT to launch a legal investigation involving the actor.
In the meantime, Morel Bolea denied any affiliation with Van Damme.
In a remark to Web page Six, Bolea said the story was “fully faux information” and insisted he had “no reference to” the martial arts star.
Lawyer Cuculis additionally instructed the outlet that the investigation is a part of a broader case into human exploitation, together with a five-year probe that includes trafficking and reportedly consists of instances involving minors.
Whereas the small print unfold, Van Damme’s crew is sustaining a robust denial and selecting to not stir up what they name an unfounded narrative.
