French actor Gérard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women by a Paris court.
The actor was accused of groping a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant while on the set of the French movie “Les Volets Verts” or “The Green Shutters,” The Associated Press reported.
The 76-year-old actor denied the accusations. He did testify during the trial that he was “not like that” but did admit that he grabbed the set dresser’s hips during an argument. He contended that it was not done sexually.
These were not the only allegations against the Oscar-nominated actor.
More than 20 women have accused him of misconduct, but this has been the only case that was heard in court. The AP said others were dropped because of a lack of evidence or the statute of limitations.
Depardieu was given an 18-month suspended sentence, the BBC reported. He was also placed on a sex offenders list and was ordered to pay a fine of 29,040 euros or about $32,000, The New York Times reported. The fine included a 1,000 euros in damages to the women for secondary victimization, claiming the defense was “aggressive” and was “based on comments meant to offend them,” the AP and the Times reported.
He was not in court during the verdict. He was in the Azores working on a film.
Depardieu plans to appeal.