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Former staff say fired whistleblower’s lawsuit reflects wider problems at LVMH drinks division

Moët Hennessy is facing accusations of sexual harassment, gender discrimination and unfair dismissal in a lawsuit that people who have worked at the business say is symptomatic of wider cultural problems at LVMH’s €6bn drinks division.

Maria Gasparovic, former chief of staff to the wine and spirits business’s global head of distribution Jean-Marc Lacave, was fired in June last year, four months after alerting her managers and human resources department to alleged misconduct by more senior colleagues.

Her accusations in a case at a Paris employment tribunal, where she is seeking €1.3mn in damages and compensation, include that superiors told her she needed “anti-seduction” training to qualify for a promotion.

She also alleges that Moët Hennessy continued shipping products via intermediaries to Russia even after LVMH announced in March 2022 that it would suspend operations in the country.

A person close to the group said the offer of coaching for Gasparovic had been intended to help her develop professionally and that it had been misinterpreted.

Moët Hennessy is suing Gasparovic for defamation after she later posted her allegations on social media, according to people with knowledge of the matter. A trial is expected to take place this autumn.

In her dismissal letter, Moët Hennessy said it was firing her due to her personal conduct, alleging she made threatening remarks to colleagues.

But her sacking was one of a series of departures from Moët Hennessy that a dozen people familiar with the business told the Financial Times was related to a toxic workplace environment where bullying and mismanagement were problems. 

At least 20 staff at the business’s headquarters went on long-term sick leave in 2024, according to the people, leading some executives to comment in a senior leadership meeting that they had never seen such numbers before. Many of the employees had complained of stress and bullying, the people added, and several subsequently left the business.

Gossip and rumours were rife at Moët Hennessy, while a “boys club” mentality was common, according to the people.

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. Lots of people were going on sick leave, people were disappearing overnight. It took on disruptive proportions”.

Besides Gasparovic, the Financial Times has identified at least four other female employees at Moët Hennessy’s Paris headquarters who reported bullying and harassment before leaving the group.

Three took their complaints to the employment tribunal in cases that have since been settled. Male staff have also lodged complaints with the employment tribunal.

Moët Hennessy declined to comment, other than to note that recourse to the employment tribunal was a routine element of the French labour market.

A company of parent LVMH’s size might have dozens of cases pass before the tribunal in a given year, according to a person close to Moët Hennessy.

They added that staff going on sick leave was not an uncommon occurrence, particularly during the dismissal process, saying they did not recognise the characterisation of Moët Hennessy’s culture as described to the FT.

In a note sent to staff in September 2024, Moët Hennessy’s then chief executive Philippe Schaus and head of HR Paula Fallowfield sought to assuage widespread “concern” within the company about the string of employee departures and Gasparovic’s public allegations on social media.

“We assure you that each case has been handled thoughtfully, fairly and in line with a commitment to confidentiality and our values,” they wrote in the email, while reminding staff of “the distress one-sided narratives may cause”.

“We are committed to providing a positive working environment . . . Moreover we are also determined to do everything possible to protect the reputation of Moët Hennessy,” they wrote. 

In the months after Gasparovic went public with some of her allegations, Schaus and several other Moët Hennessy executives left LVMH, along with the luxury group’s global head of HR Chantal Gaemperle. Gasparovic’s boss Lacave departed at the start of this year. 

In February, LVMH chief executive Bernard Arnault’s son Alexandre and the group’s former chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony were brought in to turn around the drinks business — the luxury group’s worst-performing division last year as it burnt through cash amid a depressed global market for alcohol sales. 

Executives told Moët Hennessy staff last month they would look to cut headcount by about 1,200 — roughly 13 per cent of the workforce — to cope with the downturn.

While the alleged toxic culture at the drinks business predates the sector’s downturn, pressure to reduce overheads may have contributed to a difficult environment since 2023, according to several of the people.

Avi Bitton, an employment lawyer in Paris who has represented several Moët Hennessy workers on employment law issues, said he had been contacted by LVMH managers “monthly” as they made at times acrimonious exits from the group, and that several were employed by the wine and spirits business. “There’s clearly an issue at Moët Hennessy,” he said.

In the letter informing Gasparovic of her dismissal, Moët Hennessy said she was being fired for impersonating another employee on a call while on sick leave and for making threatening remarks to colleagues. People close to Moët Hennessy said its executives believed she was trying to blackmail the company.

Before her departure, Gasparovic had submitted a whistleblowing report to Moët Hennessy detailing her allegations of harassment and discrimination, according to court documents seen by the FT. 

No formal investigation was carried out by Moët Hennessy into her claims, according to her subsequent legal complaint.

Former chief operating officer Mark Stead, who is in a relationship with Gasparovic and accompanied her to meetings with HR to complain about her situation, was dismissed shortly after her on the grounds that he had misused travel and expenses resources. 

Moët Hennessy subsequently launched a legal complaint against Stead for breach of confidentiality, alleging that he had shared privileged information with Gasparovic.

Stead is separately suing the business for wrongful dismissal, and alleges he was actually fired in reprisal for supporting a whistleblower’s claims. He declined to comment.

Gasparovic alleges in the employment tribunal filing that she was the subject of “unfounded and sexist rumours” and “acts of denigration” within the company.

She claims that Schaus had ordered Moët Hennessy’s head of HR to conduct an investigation into her private life because they suspected she was having an affair with a second executive.

In one alleged incident in her filing, Gasparovic says she was told by her boss, then global head of distribution Jean-Marc Lacave, that she would need “anti-seduction” coaching if she wanted a promotion after both Schaus and a Moët Hennessy client claimed she wanted to seduce them.

She alleges that in a conversation about why she had not yet been promoted, Lacave told her she had been described by the client as “gagging for it”.

A person close to the company said Gasparovic had not been promoted because she was not qualified for the role she sought.

Gasparovic is one of several women who worked at Moët Hennessy who told the FT they had been the subject of unfounded rumours about affairs with men at the company.

When one complained to the business about gossip that she was receiving opportunities at work because she was sleeping with a male executive, she was told by her HR manager “to get used” to it.

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

Former chief executive Schaus had difficult relationships with some staff, according to several people who worked with him.

Two female executives left the group after complaining to LVMH about him and wider problems with bullying at Moët Hennessy, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.

Several other people made complaints about Moët Hennessy to LVMH group’s human resources department, as well as to occupational health and employee labour representatives. 

People familiar with the matter said Schaus had acknowledged Moët Hennessy’s male-dominated, nightlife-oriented culture when he arrived as chief executive in 2017 and had taken concerted steps to change it.

This included hiring a string of women in senior positions, including as heads of major brands, and appointing the company’s first ever female head of France.

But one woman who worked at Moët Hennessy likened it to an “old-fashioned royal court”, saying that “for some, you play the game, or you leave or get pushed out . . . but it can be a highly destabilising experience”. 

Another former male executive described misogynistic behaviour at work events, saying Moët Hennessy was “a place where you’re told very quickly to get comfortable playing in the grey”. 

Gasparovic’s February 2024 whistleblowing complaint to Moët Hennessy HR separately included allegations that it knowingly dispatched products whose ultimate destination was Russia even after LVMH announced in March 2022 that it had halted its operations in the country.

Documents seen by the Financial Times show that almost €26mn worth of cognac and champagne — internally referred to as “special orders” — was shipped to Russia via US-based intermediaries in 2022 and 2023.

The shipments, which did not contravene EU sanctions, were first reported by French publication La Lettre. The company has denied wrongdoing.

Gasparovic’s whistleblowing dossier was shared beyond Moët Hennessy — copies were sent in June last year by her lawyers to LVMH’s headquarters and brought to the attention of Gaemperle and Jérôme Sibille, the group’s general counsel. Both were members of the group’s executive committee and close advisers to Bernard Arnault. 

Gaemperle was fired in November, according to several people with knowledge of the situation. People close to the group told the FT her departure was not related to the situation at Moët Hennessy.

In a cease and desist letter sent to Gasparovic in September after she posted allegations on LinkedIn, Moët Hennessy claimed she had “instrumentalised the status of whistleblower in bad faith” to “demand the payment of an exorbitant” sum, according to documents seen by the FT.  

“You have not been the victim of any discrimination,” the letter says. “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.”  

Schaus and Stead declined to comment. Lacave and Gaemperle did not respond to requests for comment.