Nearly 250 women have accused a former senior French civil servant of secretly drugging them during job interviews, allegedly leaving them weak, disoriented and unable to control their bladder.
The alleged incidents reportedly occurred between 2009 and 2018 while Christian Nègre held senior positions within France’s Ministry of Culture.
One alleged victim, Anaïs de Vos, says the ordeal began during a 2011 job interview in Paris.
De Vos was 27 at the time and says Nègre offered her coffee after they began the interview. Although she normally did not drink coffee, she accepted the drink out of politeness.
She says Nègre prepared it himself and that it tasted unusual.
“I drank about half,” she recalled.
Shortly afterward, Nègre suggested they leave the office for a walk.
As they moved through the streets of Paris, De Vos says she suddenly developed an overwhelming and inexplicable need to urinate.
She initially tried to return to the ministry by telling Nègre that she was cold. According to her account, however, he continued walking toward the River Seine.
When she told him she urgently needed a toilet, De Vos says Nègre appeared unusually amused.
“He looked me right in the eye and said, ‘Oh, do you need a wee?’” she recalled.
She says he then directed her toward a storage area beneath a bridge and told her she could urinate there.
The situation frightened her.
“I started to panic,” De Vos said. “I had visions of him pushing me into the room and closing the door behind me.”
She refused and insisted they continue looking for a toilet.
They eventually reached the Louvre, but De Vos had left her purse at the ministry and could not pay to use the facilities. Nègre also said he had no money.
Desperate and in increasing pain from holding her urine, she eventually found a café where she was allowed to use the bathroom.
But by then, she says, she had become extremely weak.
As she approached the toilet, she lost control and urinated on herself.
Looking back, De Vos says she was relieved that the incident happened out of Nègre’s view.
“At least he didn’t see me,” she said.
After roughly three hours with him, she says she felt dizzy and completely drained.
She did not get the job.
For years, De Vos could not explain why the interview had left her feeling so uncomfortable.
Police later contacted her
Almost eight years later, in 2019, De Vos received a letter from police.
When she met investigators, she says they told her they suspected she was one of a large number of women allegedly drugged by Nègre during job interviews.
“I was shocked,” she said. “But I was happy to know I wasn’t crazy. Something had happened that day.”
The number of alleged victims has since grown to nearly 250.
Investigators reportedly believe Nègre may have used diuretics — drugs that increase urine production and are commonly prescribed for certain medical conditions.
De Vos says she had briefly wondered in 2011 whether something had been put into her coffee, but dismissed the thought.
“It’s the Ministry of Culture. It’s not possible,” she remembers telling herself.
A disturbing spreadsheet
According to De Vos, police told her they discovered a spreadsheet on Nègre’s computer allegedly titled “Experiments P.”
The document reportedly contained information about women who attended interviews, including when they arrived, when an alleged diuretic was administered, how long it took them to urinate and what underwear they were wearing.
The investigation into Nègre reportedly began in 2018 after a colleague caught him photographing a woman from beneath a table, according to prosecutors.
He was suspended from his position as regional director of cultural affairs before being dismissed by the Ministry of Culture in 2019.
Prosecutors have also said that Nègre told investigators he had “imposed humiliating situations on women” during job interviews.
Nègre, who is now in his 60s, is under formal investigation over allegations including drugging, invasion of privacy and sexual assault.
He has not been convicted and is awaiting trial.
His lawyer declined to comment when the allegations were presented to him.
Another woman describes a similar experience
Marie-Hélène Brice says she met Nègre during a job interview in Strasbourg in 2016.
According to Brice, Nègre told her she looked stressed and suggested they go for a walk.
While walking beside a canal, she says she suddenly experienced an uncontrollable urge to urinate.
The urge became increasingly painful.
Brice says Nègre told her he knew where a public toilet was, but when they arrived, there was no toilet.
Eventually, she says she was forced to urinate in public.
Nègre allegedly offered to shield her with his jacket but, according to Brice, continued watching her.
“I was terribly embarrassed,” she said.
She says the incident haunted her for years.
Like De Vos, Brice was later contacted by police and told she was allegedly among Nègre’s victims.
For her, the experience was more than simple humiliation.
“I have been attacked, I have been intoxicated, I have been poisoned, but for me it is a sexual assault, clearly,” she said.
The wider issue of chemical submission
The allegations have drawn attention to chemical submission — the use of drugs or other substances to make another person vulnerable or easier to control.
The issue has received increased attention in France following the case of Gisèle Pelicot, whose husband was convicted after drugging her and arranging for other men to sexually assault her while she was unconscious.
French MP Sandrine Josso has become a prominent campaigner on drug-facilitated sexual violence.
A French pilot programme now allows people who believe they have been drugged to submit blood, urine or hair samples for testing without first filing a formal police complaint.
However, detecting substances can be difficult when significant time has passed.
Experts say some drugs disappear from blood and urine relatively quickly, while hair analysis can sometimes provide a longer detection window but may not precisely establish when a substance was administered.
Professor Jean-Claude Alvarez, a toxicologist involved in the French testing programme, described the alleged use of diuretics in this manner as extremely unusual.
Women say they are still waiting for justice
For some of the alleged victims, the investigation has lasted years.
De Vos says she first spoke to police in 2019 and repeatedly contacted authorities afterward, but heard little about the case for long periods.
She says the uncertainty made the experience even more difficult.
“For four years, I was alone with the knowledge that I was a victim,” she said.
“I am very angry with the justice system.”
Brice described the prolonged process as “secondary victimisation”, saying alleged victims have had to repeatedly prove the psychological damage caused by their experiences.
Women’s rights organisation Fondation des Femmes is supporting some of the women involved.
UN Women has also warned that authorities need to do more to address drug-facilitated sexual violence, saying prolonged investigations can have serious consequences for victims.
French police, judicial authorities and the government were asked to respond to criticism surrounding the handling of the investigation but did not provide a response.
For De Vos and other women who have come forward, speaking publicly has become a way to challenge the shame they carried for years.
“I don’t have to hide myself — I am a victim,” Brice said.
The allegations against Nègre remain allegations, and the case has yet to be decided by a court.