The prosecution on Wednesday requested a one-year suspended prison sentence against Cannes choreographer Bruno Vandelli, tried with his ex-husband for corruption of a minor by the Grasse criminal court (Alpes-Maritimes). The two men are being prosecuted for having exchanged pornographic photos and videos with a teenager between 2016 and 2017, when the victim, whom they had met during dance training, was 14 then 15 years old, the legal age of sexual majority.
At the hearing, Bruno Vandelli assured that he thought the young man was older and that all exchanges had stopped when the couple learned of his age. The young man, who is now 22 years old but remains
“very affected”
according to his lawyer Me Kaltoum Gachi, was not present at the hearing. It was his mother, also a civil party, who came to testify. The judgment was reserved until June 28.
“Slander”
Co-founder of the Espace 2 Vandelli-Masson
dance school
in Cannes, Bruno Vandelli, 62, has become a television personality. He was a juror on the show
Popstars 2
on M6 in 2002. In January, one of his former students, Yanis Marshall, himself a former dance teacher on the show
Star Academy
on TF1, announced that he had filed a complaint against him for
“rape”
and
“corruption of a minor”
, for facts dating back to his adolescence.
In an interview with the regional daily
Nice-Matin
, Bruno Vandelli denounced
"lies and slander"
, recognizing a relationship with his former student but qualifying it
as a "love story"
agreed when the young dancer was 16 and he 44. The Grasse public prosecutor's office confirmed in February the recent filing of a complaint for
“acts of a sexual nature”
.