Jacques Moretti, the French co-owner of the Le Constellation bar, where a deadly fire broke out during New Year celebrations in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, has been placed in pre-trial detention on suspicion of domestic violence against his wife and business partner.
According to reports by the Geneva regional television channel Léman Bleu, confirmed by the Swiss public broadcaster RTS, the alleged assault took place at the couple’s home in the canton of Valais during the night of August 11-12.
He is accused of assaulting his wife, Jessica Moretti. The alleged violence was serious enough for her to be taken to hospital.
He was subsequently remanded in custody. The exact circumstances of the alleged offence, and how it might be classified under Swiss criminal law, remain to be established.
The couple’s lawyers, Yaël Hayat, Nicola Meier and Patrick Michod, issued a brief statement describing the new accusations as relating “exclusively to their private life” and said they would make no further comment on the matter.
They added that the allegations should not be confused with the Constellation tragedy, though they fell within a context that could not be ignored, that of a particularly intense ordeal the couple had tried to face together since January 1.
The Valais public prosecutor’s office has declined to comment, telling the Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS that as a general rule it does not communicate on domestic violence matters.
Jacques and Jessica Moretti are already the subject of a major criminal investigation linked to the catastrophic fire that destroyed their bar in the early hours of January 1, 2026.
The blaze killed 41 people, many of them teenagers, and left 115 others injured, some critically.
Both owners are accused of manslaughter by negligence, serious bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.
Sixteen people in total are under investigation in connection with the disaster.
The domestic violence case is being treated as a separate judicial procedure from the ongoing inquiry into the New Year’s Eve fire.
Moretti was placed in pre-trial detention on January 9, 2026, after questioning by the Valais public prosecutor, and the canton’s coercive measures court confirmed that detention on January 12 for an initial period of three months, citing a risk of flight.
Swiss local authorities admitted Tuesday they failed to conduct periodic fire and safety inspections over the past five years at a bar where an inferno killed 40 people and injured 116 others. https://t.co/ca2T1kgfuG
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 6, 2026
