Aulas forced to step back from Lyon Metropolis governance following rape allegation against former campaign director

Jean-Michel Aulas has been forced to step back from the governance of the Cœur Lyonnais group at the Lyon Metropolis following revelations of a rape complaint involving chemical submission filed against his former campaign director, Roman Abreu, according to information from Progrès.

Roman Abreu is accused by a 22-year-old activist of raping her after subjecting her to chemical submission. The alleged incidents took place in January in a hotel room. The complainant claims to have informed Jean-Michel Aulas and several members of his entourage as early as February.

It is precisely this delay that places the former Olympique Lyonnais chairman at the heart of the controversy. The former executive is being criticized for having been informed of the accusations several months before their public revelation without definitively removing his collaborator. He claims to have kept Roman Abreu away from campaign headquarters, without however ending their collaboration.

Meeting on Friday, two days after the first media revelations, the elected representatives of Cœur Lyonnais formalized a distancing from their leadership. In a statement, the group indicated that “Jean-Michel Aulas, group president, and Laure Cédat, vice-president, have made the proposal to step back from the governance of the group to preserve the unity of the collective”.

Just the day before, the former OL executive — first vice-president of the Lyon Metropolis since March — had refused the idea of stepping back. “I am being made out to be someone who did not make the right decisions when I acted responsibly,” he had defended himself to the regional newspaper.