The downfall of a renowned dancer. Mouflih Saoudi was sentenced Monday evening to 10 years in prison by the Paris Criminal Court. Since Thursday, he had been on trial for the rapes of three young women, including a minor and a former partner, and for corruption of minors between 2017 and 2020. The victims were former students of the 43-year-old, who taught at prestigious Parisian dance schools.

Found guilty on almost all counts—though acquitted on one charge of corruption of a minor—he was imprisoned following the hearing, where he had appeared as a free man. The lawyers for three of the plaintiffs, Claire Dompeyre and Sahand Saber, welcomed the fact that "the proceedings established the existence of mechanisms put in place by Mouflih Saoudi to force his victims into non-consensual relationships."

Behind this case lies a modus operandi: that of a teacher who used his influence and career—he danced for Rihanna, Mariah Carey, and Janet Jackson—to approach and seduce very young, and sometimes underage, students. The victims who reported the rapes were between 14 and 19 years old at the time. All describe a situation of control and an accused man who forced them into unwanted sexual acts.

Mouflih Saoudi "immediately filed an appeal"

“The difficulty dancers, especially younger ones, face in establishing themselves in this industry puts them in a vulnerable position from which they struggle to escape,” argued lawyers Claire Dompeyre and Sahand Saber, denouncing “a systemic problem plaguing the world of dance and entertainment.” Léa (name changed) – who was in a romantic relationship with the accused – recounted several episodes of violence and threats she allegedly suffered in connection with these rapes.

It was following his complaint that investigators from the 2nd district of the judicial police were able to identify other victims. At the hearing, which was held behind closed doors, the man in his forties denied the charges against him. While the criminal court followed the prosecution's recommendations, which had requested a 10-year prison sentence, Mouflih Saoudi "immediately filed an appeal," according to his lawyers, Victor Delatour-Le Morzadec and Maxence Gallo.

"This decision, the reasoning of which does not reflect the complexity of the situations that were debated before the Court, seems to us to be poorly founded. He formally contests the accusations made against him," they emphasize.