We often talk about porn stars in the US but actually, porn is produced all over the world. Of course, there are famous British porn stars like Gemma Massey, and European porn stars like Nelly Kent, but yes even France makes its own porn.

One of those french porn producers is Jacquie et Michel. He’s made some movies like …

But his porn production days are now behind him it seems as he and 4 others were just arrested on charges of rape, pimping, and human trafficking. According to their attorney, these stem from alleged pimping, complicity in rape, and complicity in sexual assault that was said to have taken place between 2009 and 2015.

The “Jacquie et Michel” website bills itself as a hub for “amateur” porn videos and has been the target of abuse claims by women who say they have suffered violence on set.

The arrests come following an investigation launched in 2020 after feminist groups and several female adult performers came forward with claims of being forced into non-consensual sexual acts of an “out of the ordinary and painful” nature within the French adult production sector.

His lawyers went on to say, “Pornography has never been equated with prostitution: a porn actress is not a prostitute and a director or broadcaster is not a pimp,” he added.

Another interesting thing to note is that like in the case of Evil Angel when he was arrested for obscenity in the US, this company (like Evil Angel) doesn’t produce their own movies. As his lawyer pointed out, “The Jacquie et Michel group has never produced or directed a film and is only a distributor of films made by independent producers.”

While French laws are obviously different than the US, this is the very same argument that John Staliano used after his arrest and apparently won him his case.

In short, you can’t be guilty of producing obscenity if you don’t actually produce porn in the first place.

Last month, representatives of Jacquie et Michel and France’s other major porn site Dorcel were grilled by senators over practices in the industry after dozens of women came forward with abuse stories.

Last October, four French porn actors were charged with rape for the first time, over videos available for streaming on the “French Bukkake” website, but more on that story later.

For now, we’ll have to wait and see what happens with the Jacquie et Michel case and what ramifications it could have for us in the US adult industry.

In the meantime, you can follow Jacquie et Michel on Twitter at @jacquiemichelx2. Be sure and follow us on Twitter as well (@Fleshb0t) to get all the latest adult industry news!