Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Harvey Weinstein accused of rape by four more women in new lawsuit

New lawsuit alleges dsigraced Hollywood mogul attacked four more women between 1984 and 2013

Graig Graziosi
Friday 29 May 2020 19:05 BST
Comments
Harvey Weinstein jailed for 23 years

Four more women have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting them, according to a lawsuit filed on Friday.

The disgraced producer is currently serving a 23 year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault.

The new lawsuit alleges Weinstein sexually assaulted four women between 1984 and 2013. One of the accusers was 17 at the time of her alleged assault.

The woman - who is not named in the suit - claimed that Weinstein imprisoned her and "sexually assaulted, sexually battered and raped her."

According to Variety, the woman claims Weinstein invited her to discuss her prospective career in entertainment with him at his hotel room. While she was there, he allegedly demanded she "sexually gratify" him.

The woman claims she told him she would not, after which he forced her to take off her clothes and then raped her. He also allegedly took her driver's licence and told her that if she told anyone about what happened, he would tank her career and send people to hurt her and her family.

Another woman represented in the lawsuit alleged that Weinstein pinned her against the door of a hotel room and then sexually assaulted her. As in the other incident, he allegedly warned the woman to stay quiet about what happened, telling her that if she spoke out she'd be "blackballed from the industry." That incident allegedly occurred in 1984.

The most recent allegation comes from a now 35-year-old woman who claims the Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love producer forced her to perform oral sex on him in a hotel room when she was 26. She said she met him at the Venice Film Festival in 2013, where she says the assault occurred.

The fourth woman claims that she met Weinstein at a Manhattan restaurant in 2008, where he promised he'd "help take her career to the next level." A few days later she claims he raped her while she was at his apartment in Soho. As with the other incidents, he allegedly threatened to "ruin her" if she spoke about the attack.

Bob Weinstein - Weinstein's brother - and Disney and Miramax are also named as defendants in the suit.

The lawsuit alleges that Bob Weinstein and the entertainment entities "knew or reasonably should have known that Harvey Weinstein had a propensity to engage in sexual misconduct and would use his position and power to lure plaintiffs and other similarly situated aspiring female actresses to his apartments, hotel rooms, offices, etc. under the guise of discussing business opportunities to sexually harass, batter, assault, falsely imprison and rape them."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in