Moët Hennessy Whistleblower Sues Company for Sexual Harassment, Claims She Was Told She Was Too Seductive to Get Promoted

Moet and Chandon champagne being poured into glasses July 7, 2022, ahead of Ladies day of the Moet and Chandon July Festival at Newmarket racecourse, Suffolk July 7, 2022. (Photo: Tim Goode/PA Wire for the Jockey Club)

Moët Hennessy, the beverage arm of luxury conglomerate LVMH, is facing accusations of sexual harassment, gender discrimination and unfair dismissal, the Financial Times reported Thursday.

According to the Financial Times, people who have worked at the business say the lawsuit is “symptomatic of wider cultural problem” at Moët Hennessy.

Maria Gasparovic, former chief of staff to the wine and spirits business’s global head of distribution Jean-Marc Lacave, is seeking €1.3 million ($1.52 million) in damages and compensation after she was fired in June 2024. She claims her termination came four months after she reported misconduct by senior colleagues to her managers and human resources department, according to the Financial Times.

She also alleges Moët Hennessy continued shipping products via intermediaries to Russia after LVMH announced in March 2022 that it would suspend operations in the country following the invasion of Ukraine. According to the Financial Times, Moët Hennessy shipped almost €26 million ($30 million) worth of cognac and champagne labeled “special orders” to Russia via U.S.-based intermediaries in 2022 and 2023.

She claims her boss, Lacave, told her she needed “anti-seduction” training in order to qualify for a promotion, with the reasoning being that Lacave and a client of Moët Hennessy both claimed she wanted to seduce them. She claims that in a conversation about why she had not been promoted, Lacave told her the client had described her as “gagging for it”. According to the Financial Times, a person close to the company said Gasparovic had in fact not been promoted because she was not qualified for the role she sought.

Moët Hennessy wrote in Gasparovic’s dismissal letter that it was firing her due to her personal conduct, saying she made threatening remarks to colleagues and impersonated another employee on a call while on sick leave. Gasparovic denies these claims. She submitted a whistleblowing report to Moët Hennessy in February 2024 alleging harassment and discrimination, but no formal investigation was carried out by Moët Hennessy into her claims, per the Financial Times.

Gasparovic’s romantic partner and former chief operating officer Mark Stead went with her to meetings with HR to complain about her experiences but was dismissed soon after her over claims that he had “misused travel and expenses resources,” according to the Financial Times. He also was struck with a legal complaint from Moët Hennessy, claiming he breached confidentiality by sharing privileged information with Gasparovic.

Stead is independently suing the company for wrongful dismissal, alleging he was fired in retaliation for supporting a whistleblower’s claims.

According to the Financial Times’ reporting, executives believed Gasparovic was attempting to blackmail the company. In September, after Gasparovic posted allegations on LinkedIn, Moët Hennessy said in a cease and desist letter that she had “instrumentalised the status of whistleblower in bad faith” to “demand the payment of an exorbitant” sum, per the Financial Times.

“You have not been the victim of any discrimination,” the letter read. “You cannot present yourself as a whistleblower when you have exploited for your personal benefit, for several years, the same facts that you publicly claim to have reported.”

Moët Hennessy is counter-suing Gasparovic for defamation. The Financial Times reports a trial is expected to take place this fall.

The Financial Times reported that it heard from a dozen sources that Gasparovic ‘s termination was one of a series of departures from a company related to “a toxic workplace environment where bullying and mismanagement were problems.”

According to the Financial Times, at least 20 staff members at the headquarters went on long-term sick leave in 2024. Many employees had reportedly complained of stress and bullying, and several ended up leaving the company.

The Financial Times cites  gossip and a “boys club” atmosphere as contributors to the toxic environment. Gasparovic alleges in her employment tribunal filing that she was subject to “unfounded and sexist rumours” as well as “acts of denigration.” She says Schaus ordered Moët Hennessy’s head of HR to investigate her private life because they suspected she was having an affair with an executive.

The Financial Times reports that Gasparovic is not the only woman who was the subject of false rumors of affairs with men at the company, and one woman was advised “to get used” to it by her HR manager when complained about rumors that she was getting opportunities at work because she was sleeping with an executive.

“I was told the more you move up in the organisation, the more this will happen,” she said, according to the Financial Times. “Moët Hennessy is the kingdom of rumours.”

“One former employee described how their boss would ‘scream at people like it was a fashion house in the 1990s, except we are in 2025 — that behaviour is no longer acceptable,'” The Financial Times wrote, adding that at least four female now-ex-employees aside from Gasparovic reported bullying and harassment.
Since Gasparovic went public with her allegations, Lacave, Chief Executive Philippe Schaus, Head of HR Chantal Gaemperle and several other Moët Hennessy executives have departed LVMH.