Ubisoft: Three former executives accused of sexual and moral harassment to learn their fate this Wednesday

Accused of moral and sexual harassment , the three former executives of the flagship French video game company are about to learn their fate with the decision of the Bobigny Criminal Court expected this Wednesday, July 2. A wave of anonymous testimonies on Twitter (now X), then investigations published in the daily newspaper Libération and the media Numérama had revealed the toxic atmosphere established as a management system of the editorial department of the company based in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis).
However, victims and unions deplored the fact that neither CEO Yves Guillemot, nor the Ubisoft legal entity, nor human resources manager Marie Derain were tried during the trial, which took place in early June. They nevertheless, they believe, enabled the perpetrators' actions and covered them up.
Thomas François, the right-hand man of former Ubisoft number two Serge Hascoët, has been singled out for the most accusations. During the hearings, 23 testimonies reported bodily touching, 30 recounted repeated unwanted sexual and sexist comments from him, and 24 reported sexist behavior. Finally, 18 described acts of moral pressure exerted on other employees.
"He smears me all over with a felt-tip pen and forbids me from going out to clean myself," one employee testified. Another day, "he tied me to a chair, put me in the elevator and pressed the button. Imagine arriving on a floor where I don't know anyone," she added about the man who was nicknamed Tommy in the company.
In court, the latter invoked "Ubisoft culture" which he claimed he had not been "the instigator" . The prosecution fully contested this position, considering him to have been responsible for "particularly violent, intense, systemic harassment, over time, with a multiplicity of victims" . A three-year suspended prison sentence and a €30,000 fine were requested against the man who was vice-president of the editorial department until his dismissal for serious misconduct.
These sexist remarks and degrading hazing took place just meters from his glass-fronted office, but Serge Hascoët told the court he was never aware of them. Ubisoft's second-in-command as creative director, he resigned as soon as the scandal broke.
During the trial, the court was able to observe how the sixty-year-old man did not separate his private and professional life, assigning his assistants personal tasks that had no connection with their skills. Against him, the prosecutor requested an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros due to the moral harassment he is accused of having committed. On the other hand, he requested his acquittal for the facts of sexual harassment which he considered to be "not sufficiently characterized" . Against Guillaume Patrux, the third defendant, the prosecutor requested a sentence of 15 months suspended prison sentence and a fine of 10,000 euros.
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