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Sex trial: Quebec TV host Julie Snyder testifies against Just for Laughs founder

Click to play video: 'Founder of ‘Just for Laughs’ festival faces retrial in Montreal'
Founder of ‘Just for Laughs’ festival faces retrial in Montreal
RELATED: "Just for Laughs" festival founder Gilbert Rozon was in a Montreal courtroom on Monday for a retrial. Rozon faces accusations of sexual assault and rape, as well as a lawsuit that could amount to almost $14 million in damages. – Dec 9, 2024

Quebec TV host and producer Julie Snyder told a civil trial today that she was sexually assaulted by Just for Laughs founder Gilbert Rozon in Paris more than three decades ago.

Snyder says that in 1991, when she was 23 years old, she was invited to stay at the apartment of the Just for Laughs company, and went to sleep and woke up to being sexually assaulted by Rozon.

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She says she stayed silent for years because she feared going public would damage her career, but she says she finally reported him to Montreal police in 2017 after other alleged victims made accusations against him.

Snyder’s testimony is part of a nearly $14-million civil lawsuit against Rozon by nine women — excluding Snyder — who are suing the Just For Laughs founder individually.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Chantal Tremblay is hearing the lawsuits together in a single trial.

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Rozon, 70, has denied the allegations against him, and his legal team said last week that the women had communicated with each other and “contaminated” each other’s stories.

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