A new accusation of sexual assault has been lodged against French director Luc Besson by a second woman, along with two accusations of harassment by two other women.
According to a investigative report by French outlet Mediapart, which was later picked up by AFP, the allegation comes from a casting director who worked with the filmmaker. The new accusation comes two months after a young actress said Besson raped her. French police are investigating accusations lodged against Besson.
The 49-year-old casting director said, according to AFP, that she was assaulted by the “Valerian” and “Fifth Element” director “every time I took the lift with him,” and that he also demanded sexual favors from her on set.
Mediapart said that the casting director had written to prosecutors saying that the actress who had made the previous rape claim leveled a further accusation against Besson.
Prosecutors told AFP on Tuesday, however, they had yet to receive the new complaints.
Two other women also told Mediapart that Besson “behaved inappropriately” with them, with one actress saying she had to escape from a Paris casting on her hands and knees. The other harassment accuser was an employee at Besson’s EuropaCorp film company at the time during which she alleged abuse by the director.
New Besson accusers spoke to Mediapart on condition of anonymity.
Reps for Besson did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
The director’s lawyer Thierry Marembert denounced the accusations against Besson on Tuesday, calling them “fantasist accusations,” AFP reported. And Besson’s office told Mediapart that the filmmaker “categorically denies any type of inappropriate or reprehensible behavior.”
Besson was accused in May of drugging an unidentified woman who’s worked on a couple of his films and then sexually abusing her while she was unconscious.
According to French broadcast station Europe1, the woman said she awoke with memories of touching and penetration, adding that Besson left the hotel room before she did, and he left behind a wad of cash. Besson denied those accusations.