A Landmark Win in Pursuit of Justice While Working to Make the Fashion Workers Act Law

Speaking at a MA press conference in Paris in 2021.

When I was 17, I was sent to Paris by my modeling agency, Elite Model Management. Instead of protecting me — a teenager in a new city — I was trafficked to the agency’s president, Gerald Marie, who raped me repeatedly.

I am now in my fifties pursuing justice for the harm I experienced as a child. Just last month, a U.S. Court of Appeals greenlit my lawsuit after executives at Elite tried to throw it out of court. I brought this case under New York’s Child Victims Act, which allowed victims of childhood sexual abuse to bring claims that otherwise would have been “time barred”— that is, too old to bring to court. Elite executives argued this law doesn’t apply to me because the abuse I suffered happened outside of New York, but the Court of Appeals disagreed. The location of the assault does not determine whether a survivor can access justice under the Child Victims Act.

Testifying in support of the Talent Protections Act in CA in 2018.

This landmark development comes 13 years since I first named my abuser in my 2011 memoir, Beauty Disrupted, four years since French prosecutors opened (and subsequently closed) their criminal investigation into Marie, and three years since I filed my civil case. This is a huge win not only in my individual pursuit of justice, but for all survivors. 

But while my case will proceed, the working conditions that enabled my abuse remain unchanged. Modeling agencies in New York remain almost entirely unregulated, creating an enormous power imbalance between the agencies and the young people they represent. There are powerful players in the industry who have a vested interest in keeping young models in cycles of debt and vulnerable to abuse, including human trafficking. Despite helping to generate $2.5 trillion globally, models work without basic labor protections in an industry famous for tolerating sexual predators. 

Advancing the Adult Survivors Act in 2022.

Today, I serve on the board of the Model Alliance, which allows me to channel the adversity I faced into advocacy. The Model Alliance not only supported me and other survivors in our pursuit of justice, but is also leading the fight for prevention. Together we introduced the Fashion Workers Act, a groundbreaking piece of legislation that would close the legal loophole by which modeling agencies escape accountability and create basic protections for the models who are the faces of New York’s fashion industry. This summer, despite fierce opposition from modeling agencies, including Elite, the bill passed both chambers of the New York State legislature. But it has spent months sitting on Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk and she has just a few days to sign it into law.

Accepting the CFDA’s Inaugural Positive Social Influence Award in 2021.

We have a critical window of opportunity to prevent the abuse I experienced from happening to others. There are many people like me who needed the Fashion Workers Act when they were younger. Let’s give those protections to the countless people who work or aspire to work in this industry now.

Warmly,

Carré Otis