French Far-right firebrand Eric Zemmour’s communications chief is accused of raping intern
French Far-right firebrand Eric Zemmour’s communications chief, 51, is accused of raping 18-year-old male work experience intern
Police are investigations that Olivier Ubéda, Zemmour’s chief communications adviser, repeatedly raped an 18-year-old male internMr Ubéda, who is 51 and married, vehemently denies the accusations of rape
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The campaign to get far-Right firebrand Eric Zemmour elected President of France was thrown into chaos today after his communications chief was accused of raping an 18-year-old male work experience intern.
Judicial police confirmed on Monday that they are investigating allegations that Olivier Ubéda, Zemmour’s chief communications adviser, repeatedly raped the teenager.
Mr Ubéda, who is 51 and married, vehemently denies the accusations brought by the 18-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
It follows claims that Mr Zemmour, 63, has himself been abusive towards young women – accusations that he too refutes as he plans to stand against Emmanuel Macron to take over as France’s head of state this April.
The campaign to get far-Right firebrand Eric Zemmour elected President of France was thrown into chaos today after his communications chief Olivier Ubéda was accused of raping an 18-year-old male work experience intern. Pictured: Eric Zemmour (left) with Olivier Ubeda (centre) in Nice, France, on September 18 2021
According to information broadcast by BFM – France’s most popular news channel – Mr Ubéda is set to be interviewed ‘on suspicion of rapes’ that started last Spring.
They continued until Autumn, while both the accused and his alleged victim were working for Mr Zemmour.
The teenager ‘was manipulated without having the opportunity to oppose the communications adviser,’ a source told BFM.
In turn, Mr Ubéda posted a denial on Twitter on Monday, saying he was another victim of me #MeToo – the movement that has seen powerful men regularly accused of sexual indiscretions.
Mr Ubéda wrote: ‘I will only react when I know what and who we are talking about. I see the investigating officer tomorrow.
‘I’ve not received any written summons. Just a free questioning hearing. I call that a slanderous denunciation.’
Mr Ubéda (pictured), who is 51 and married, vehemently denies the accusations brought by the 18-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons
Mr Ubéda also said he had been repeatedly targeted since agreeing to work for the controversial Mr Zemmour.
He said his wife had been ‘fired from her job,’ that the ‘tax authorities are overzealous’ and that now he has been ‘accused of rape’.
Mr Ubéda is a high-profile PR professional in France whose previous clients have included the disgraced former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has since been convicted twice for corruption.
Eight women have so far reported sexual abuse by Mr Zemmour, with some renouncing their right to anonymity.
The married father of three who is expecting a love child with his 28-year-old campaign manager, has denied any wrongdoing and refuses to discuss the specific allegations.
Last month, Zemmour himself was found guilty of provoking racial hatred by calling child immigrants ‘thieves, rapists and murderers’.
Subject to appeal, he has to pay a fine equivalent to £8000 and risks a prison sentence if he fails to do so.
Zemmour, a magazine journalist turned television pundit, has already been convicted twice on similar charges.
French far-right party Reconquete! presidential candidate Eric Zemmour attends a meeting in Chaumont-sur-Tharonne on January 28, 2022 ahead of the April 2022 presidential election in France
Despite this, he is standing to replace Emmanuel Macron as President of France in April.
Opinion polls currently put him behind in the presidential race to Mr Macron and Marine Le Pen, of the far-Right National Rally, as well as Valerie Pecresse, the Republican’s candidate.
Zemmour was first convicted of provoking racial hatred in February 2011, and then he was found guilty of provoking religious hatred in June 2017.
He frequently rages against Muslims, black people and anybody else from an immigrant background.
Zemmour has also been accused of virulent anti-Semitism after denying – against all the historical evidence – that the French collaborated with the Nazis during the wartime Holocaust.
