"Cash Investigation" is the target of a complaint for "failure to report mistreatment" during its investigation into Parisian after-school programs.

A complaint has been filed against the team of Cash Investigation after the broadcast, on January 29th on France 2, of the episode entitled "After-school programs, private schools: an investigation behind the gates of our schools"This procedure was initiated at the Paris prosecutor's office by lawyers representing the family of a child presented as a victim of rapes committed by after-school activity leaders at the Saint-Dominique nursery school, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.

A lawsuit has been filed against the production team, journalists, and several program executives.

The complaint was filed by the Joshua law firm, represented in particular by Julien Roelens. "against the company Premières Lignes Télévision, producer of the Cash Investigation program"The proceedings would also target Élise Lucet, presenter and editor-in-chief of the program, Claire Tesson, director, Luc Hermann and Paul Moreira, producers, as well as Maria Ivanchysyn, journalist who filmed footage inside the school in the spring of 2025.

Footage filmed in the spring of 2025 is at the heart of the complaint.

According to the lawyers, Maria Ivanchysyn allegedly filmed "from April 2025" Hidden camera footage from inside the Saint-Dominique school shows after-school activity leaders working with children aged 3 to 5. "physical and psychological violence",s “privations” as well as'"a sexual assault"The lawyers argue that these sequences, extracted from 27 hours of raw footage, were kept for nine months before any public broadcast. The television broadcast scheduled for January 29, 2026, is confirmed by the official France Télévisions page dedicated to the program.

Families denounce the lack of immediate reporting

The core of the complaint concerns what the lawyers describe as a failure to immediately transmit the information to judicial or administrative authorities. In their statement, they assert that "These images – selected from 27 hours of raw footage – were kept secret for nine months, without any report being made to the judicial or administrative authorities."They add that the prime-time broadcast on France 2, on January 29th, "led to the immediate suspension of the presenters involved"Along the same lines, they believe that"Concealing these facts is a crime, all the more serious because reporting them would have protected the children."At this stage, France Télévisions had not yet reacted publicly to this complaint, while the administrative consequences of the broadcast were indeed noted in the following days.

The broadcast caused immediate suspensions in Paris.

The aftermath of the televised investigation is documented by several media outlets. As early as January 30, 2026, the City of Paris announced the immediate suspension of two activity leaders from the Saint-Dominique school following the broadcast of the program. Nine after-school staff members from this school were suspended as a precautionary measure due to suspicions of physical, sexual, and other forms of violence. "Inappropriate professional posture". At the beginning of February and then in mid-February, there was a rapid increase in the number of suspensions and a high level of tension among families.

The Saint-Dominique affair has intensified the parents' anger.

In Saint-Dominique, several families explained that they discovered, after the trailer and then the broadcast of Cash InvestigationThe scale of the problems, which had previously been poorly identified or insufficiently reported, has been highlighted. Angry parents are denouncing the institution's silence. One mother explained that she had raised the alarm but had not been heard. "If it hadn't been for the 'Cash', I would still be the hysterical mother of Saint-Dominique." The program, which is under scrutiny, therefore also served as a public trigger in this case.

A scandal in Parisian after-school programs

An unprecedented crisis is hitting after-school programs in Paris: 78 activity leaders have been suspended since the beginning of the year, including 31 on suspicion of sexual abuse. Accused of turning a blind eye to this scandal for years, Emmanuel Grégoire, the new mayor of Paris, says he understands the situation. "legitimate anger" families and recognized the character "systemic" The violence has been denounced. Now we can only hope that these statements will be followed by real measures to ensure that such a scandal never happens again…