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A former Moët Hennessy employee who claimed whistleblower status after alleging discrimination and mismanagement is facing off with LVMH’s luxury alcohol division in a Paris courtroom in a case that started on Monday.
The wine and spirits group is seeking more than €50,000 in damages from Maria Gasparovic, who it accuses of “public defamation” by writing on social media about her alleged experiences at the company.
The complaint comes after Gasparovic claimed in a series of LinkedIn posts that she had been sexually harassed, bullied and subsequently fired from the company after alerting its human resources team to discrimination and mismanagement. Her allegations included that she had been told she needed “anti-seduction” training.
Gasparovic said in court on Monday that while she was “not denouncing the company . . . there are many people who have suffered in this organisation because of certain individuals. They want to make of this an isolated case, but there are many isolated cases.”
Moët Hennessy claims Gasparovic never informed “her employer of the immoral acts . . . or raised the slightest alarm” about her superiors’ behaviour until after she was denied a promotion.
“She wants to settle scores. She doesn’t want to alert other women. This is staged, high-level aggression,” Loic Henriot, lawyer for Moët Hennessy, told the courtroom on Monday. “There is nothing abusive in Moët Hennessy’s behavior.”
Gasparovic denies the allegations and is claiming the same amount from Moët Hennessy for abuse of rights “given the recklessness and motivations behind the action taken”, according to court documents seen by the Financial Times.
She is separately suing Moët Hennessy for gender discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful dismissal in an employment court where she is seeking €1.3mn in damages and compensation. Moët Hennessy denies all allegations and asserts that she was fired for gross misconduct.
“Got harassed, discriminated [against] and threatened. Whistleblew. But no investigation was done,” read one of her LinkedIn posts.
Moët Hennessy had demanded that Gasparovic take down all posts about the company and “cease falsely presenting yourself as a whistleblower who is the target of reprisals and cease the public defamation campaign you are conducting against Moët Hennessy and the LVMH Group”.
Gasparovic’s lawyers argue that her status as a whistleblower, the discrimination and bullying she claims to have faced, and the fact the company had taken no action to investigate her claims half a year after she went public with them should nullify Moët Hennessy’s accusations.
“Her report proved ineffective . . . The risk of reprisals materialised [and] evidence was concealed or destroyed,” her defence reads.
Her lawyers told the court that the two witnesses they had planned to present in court had withdrawn out of fear.
Gasparovic’s partner Mark Stead, who was Moët Hennessy’s chief operating officer, and her close friend Aurelie Debieve were also fired by the company in reprisal, the defence documents claim.
Moët Hennessy has insisted all the dismissals were for misconduct. Gasparovic and Stead are contesting their firings in court.
A number of other departures from the company echo Gasparovic’s alleged experience, according to court documents.
Audrey Pages complained about sexist behaviour by the president of champagne house Ruinart, where she worked, in 2017. She has since left the group.
Berta de Pablos-Barbier, former president of Moët & Chandon champagne, left in summer 2023 after alleging to LVMH human resources director Chantal Gaemperle that then chief executive Philippe Schaus had bullied a marketing director who worked for her. The marketing director also left around the same time.
Ken Kralick, Moët Hennessy’s former e-business director, was dismissed for alleged gross misconduct in April 2024. Kralick, who had earlier raised concerns about ethical issues at the company, is suing Moët Hennessy separately for wrongful termination.
A number of executives left the company after Gasparovic went public with her complaint, including Schaus, Moët Hennessy’s commercial director Jean-Marc Lacave, who was Gasparovic’s boss, and Gaemperle.
Schaus claims in a sworn statement that he never ordered “anti-seduction” coaching for Gasparovic, as alleged in her legal complaints, and that his refusal to promote her to a specific role was because she “did not have the profile or experience required”.
He promoted several women to prominent roles “previously occupied by men” while leading Moët Hennessy, his testimony reads, while he references an occasion on which Gasparovic made him feel ill at ease by placing her hand on his hip during a group photo. “I personally attributed this behaviour to a lack of judgment and education,” he wrote.
A verdict is due to be delivered in January.
