He is accused of three rapes and 14 sexual assaults: freedom refused for the former magnetizing winemaker from Hérault

Gérard Gréaux, extradé des États-Unis, est défendu par Me Luc Abratkiewicz. MIDI LIBRE et bureau du Shérif de Sainte-Lucie – François Barrère

Gérard Gréaux, 80, was extradited in November 2023 from the United States where he had taken refuge after fleeing Hérault in 2015. He is accused by clients who stayed at the Château de Valloubière in Saint-Jean-de-Fos, which he then owned and where he offered “chakra harmonization sessions”. He will be tried in December by the Hérault Assize Court.

"We've been looking for him for ten years. If you release him, there is a good chance that he will not be in the criminal court in December. A week after the pleading of Me Sylvie Bar, who represents four of the 17 women who filed a complaint against him, the Montpellier Court of Appeal refused this Tuesday, June 4, to release Gérard Gréaux, a businessman who made his fortune in real estate, accused of three rapes and 14 sexual assaults.

Sentenced by default to thirteen years of criminal imprisonment

80 years old, stooped, with white hair and beard, he entered the box with small steps on May 28. Since his extradition from the United States on November 15, 2023, he has been incarcerated in Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone prison, awaiting his trial at the Hérault assizes , scheduled for December 2 to 6, after a first conviction in absentia on February 4, 2022 to 13 years of criminal imprisonment.

To understand what she is accused of, we must rewind legal time, and return to 2013, when a young woman pushes open the door of the gendarmerie by Gignac.

A weekend at the Château de Valloubière in Saint-Jean-de-Fos

In October, thanks to a gift box, she spent a weekend at the Château de Valloubière, a beautiful wine estate in Saint-Jean-de-Fos that  rsquo;has operated Gilbert Gréaux for several years. The place is a table and guest room, tasting of wines from the Terrasses du Larzac. For dessert, the host also offers sessions of "magnetism and harmonization of the chakras" on a massage table .

The young woman decides to take advantage of it, agrees to undress, tries to relax, as Gilbert Gréaux asks her, then becomes paralyzed when, according to her, her very strong caresses become digital penetrations. In the following months, the gendarmes received similar complaints from women of all ages who had stayed at the castle.

He denies any sexual connotation

In police custody, Gilbert Gréaux confirms the sessions, explains being "healer, magnetizer and hypnotist," but denies any sexual connotation to these "laying on of hands".

The man made his fortune in real estate, in Lyon and then on the Côte d'Azur, in Toulon, before being cruelly affected by a personal tragedy: the death of one of his sons in a car accident in 1988. He then went to live in the West Indies, on the jet-set island of Saint-Barthélemy, where his father was from.

But behind this success story lies a dark side: he was convicted in 2002 by the Basse-Terre criminal court, in Guadeloupe, to two years in prison for sexual assault, sentence confirmed in 2004. It was there that he decided to return to mainland France, and invest in the castle of Saint-Jean-de-Fos.

He disappeared in the summer of 2015 after selling the castle

An estate that he resold in 2015, while the criminal investigation gained momentum: in total three women reported rapes, and fourteen others reported sexual assaults during the famous sessions d"harmonization of the chakras"In the summer of 2015, Gilbert Gréaux, although indicted and subject to judicial supervision, disappeared: heading for Florida, where his other son lives. There he creates a company selling objects with beneficial properties, always linked to magnetism.

It will take the determination of the justice system and the civil parties to obtain his return to France, via a European arrest warrant, then an international one, an Interpol red notice and a cumbersome extradition procedure.

“He knows how to organize his life while staying under the radar”

"I know that he has returned to Europe in the meantime, landing in other European countries, he’s someone who has support and  knows how to organize his life while remaining under the radar, in a completely illegal way" insists Me Bar.

His lawyer, Me Luc Abratkiewicz, places himself on a completely different level to request his placement under an electronic bracelet in a villa in Montferrier-sur-Lez, where his wife currently lives.

"Our prisons are sometimes trash!"

"I'm not a doctor, but I'm not blind. His health is deteriorating, and he suffers from numerous pathologies. You think he's going to run away ? But have you seen the speed at which he walks ?&quot? s’unworthy the lawyer."He is in an overcrowded remand center, where at night, when the bell rings in case of health problems, no one comes. Our prisons are sometimes trash, and his medical certificates are not complacent!" he insists.

Gérard Gréaux approves, before a final disturbing statement : " We did not talk about the bailiff's finding which demonstrates that I am innocent, the bailiff notes that when I lay on hands, people have sensations of touch then my hand is two or three centimeters from their skin. These people were in good faith in filing a complaint, they had the feeling that I was touching them, but that was not the case."

His lawyer is considering a new request for release. But whether he appears free or detained, his trial and the debates on possible rapes "without contact" promise to be animated.

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