A new investigation has been opened into Eric Olhats, the former mentor and recruiter of Antoine Griezmann, to identify possible sexual offences against minors that were not included in the case that led to his conviction last year, Bayonne prosecutor Mariel Garrigos said.
Garrigos told Agence France-Presse that distinct, previously undisclosed offences could lead to further prosecution. The inquiry followed a report by Colette Capdevielle, a Socialist member of parliament representing the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Capdevielle raised suspicions of the use of drugs to facilitate abuse after reading a book that reported the discovery of 443 anti-anxiety pills at Olhats’s home during a 2022 search.
The seizure of medication in a safe had been mentioned during the earlier investigation, but its quantity and purpose were not specified. A separate complaint alleging rape involving the administration of a substance was dismissed at the time.
Olhats, 63, is serving a six-year sentence imposed last year for sexual offences against minors and corruption of a minor involving six young footballers. The offences took place between 1997 and 2002, and again in 2021 and 2022. He denied the charges at trial but did not appeal.
Separately, a complaint was filed in Bordeaux in mid-October over alleged sexual acts involving a minor in the late 1980s. The complainant, who was eight at the time, said the alleged assault took place during a football camp in Soulac-sur-Mer, according to the regional newspaper Sud Ouest. He identified Olhats as the suspected perpetrator only after media coverage of the trial last year. Bordeaux prosecutor Renaud Gaudeul said he could not determine whether the allegations were time-barred.
Olhats was previously given a one-year suspended prison sentence in 1991, with an order to undergo treatment, for indecent assault on a minor in Soulac-sur-Mer. He had admitted touching young footballers during a training camp, but later withdrew those admissions, saying they had been made under police pressure.
Olhats was known for spotting Griezmann in 2005 and advised the France international until 2017. Griezmann told investigators in Bayonne that he had neither experienced nor witnessed such conduct.
Sources: Le Monde Sport.