The appeal trial of Jack Sion opened on Wednesday, May 6, 2026 in Nice. The 78-year-old man is being retried for so-called “surprise” rape charges, following an initial conviction to eight years in prison in 2021. The proceedings focus in particular on the notion of consent in the face of presumed identity theft. The accused, a 79-year-old from Nice according to other judicial sources, appears free after being released under judicial supervision four months after his initial conviction.
From this first day of hearing at the Nice courthouse, the debates focused mainly on the recounting of the facts, the expert reports, and the witnesses called to testify. The court reviewed the modus operandi described by investigators: an elaborate scheme, used over several years, in which Jack Sion, a 78-year-old from Nice, presented himself under the identity of “Anthony Laroche”, a blond thirty-something man with blue eyes, a Monegasque interior designer according to the fictitious profile. More than 342 women reportedly exchanged with him online, and at least 24 reportedly visited his home on the Promenade des Anglais.
A case based on presumed identity theft. According to the prosecution, Jack Sion allegedly used fake profiles on dating sites to seduce several women by presenting himself as a younger man. Behind this virtual character, he reportedly maintained prolonged exchanges to establish a climate of trust before proposing meetings at his home, located in Nice. The scenario described by the complainants was always the same: an ajar door, an apartment plunged into darkness, a request to undress and cover their eyes before getting into bed. Those who accepted then discovered a man who was “bald,” “wrinkled,” “pot-bellied,” “stooped,” “with a big nose,” far from the model whose photos he was using.
Witnesses and testimonies that oppose each other?
Women and men, from his past and present, speak as the hours pass. From his current partner to the ex-husband of one of his ex-women, through to his first wife. So far, all agree that he is cultured and knows how to work. The defense insists on the idea that the relationships were consensual and that “nothing was imposed,” while the civil parties recall that the Court of Cassation already ruled in 2020 that “a rape by surprise constitutes the act of sexual penetration obtained through a stratagem intended to deceive the victim about their civil and physical identity.”
The proceedings are expected to continue for another two weeks. At the conclusion of the hearings, the Nice assize court will deliver its appeal verdict, highly anticipated in this case that questions the boundary between deception and consent in online relationships. Verdict: Friday, May 15. The defense attorneys, Ms. Margaux Mathieu and Lou Ferdinand Dreyfus, announce that they will argue for acquittal, believing that “these sexual relations had been defined beforehand between the two partners.” Conversely, Mr. Mohamed Maktouf, attorney for the civil parties, recalls that his clients “hope that the advanced age of the accused will not be an obstacle to conviction.”
As a reminder, in 2021, Jack Sion was tried before the assize court of Hérault, in Montpellier. He was then found guilty of rapes qualified as “surprise” and sentenced to eight years in prison. The trial lasted three days and was marked by particularly precise testimonies, including that of a victim recounting: “when I removed the blindfold, he turned off the light. I saw his silhouette, a shorter man, not athletic at all, and I saw his nose which had nothing to do with Anthony Laroche.”
The court found that the accused had deceived his victims about his identity in the context of meetings organized via the internet, which had been at the heart of the charge qualification. This first decision is now being examined on appeal in Nice. The case had nearly never been tried: a dismissal had been pronounced in 2018 by the examining chamber in Aix-en-Provence, before the Court of Cassation overturned this decision and returned the case to the criminal court of Hérault.
