Harvey Weinstein is facing a new sexual assault lawsuit.
The disgraced movie mogul is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence after being found guilty in March this year of third-degree rape and a first-degree criminal sexual act.
And on Friday (07.08.20), Weinstein was hit with a new lawsuit from a woman who alleges she was raped by the producer at film festivals in France and Canada.
The accuser – who filed the Manhattan federal suit anonymously under the pseudonym Jane Doe – claims she was first approached by Weinstein at the Cannes festival in 2007 when she was 22, and says he told her he wanted to discuss her career future in a meeting at his hotel room.
Jane Doe attended the meeting alongside Weinstein’s assistant, but alleges that when the assistant left the room, Weinstein started to sexually assault her.
The suit states: "Weinstein … clutched Plaintiff and tried to force her into massaging him. When Plaintiff refused to massage him, Weinstein continued to grope Plaintiff and tried to take off her clothes."
The accuser claims she ran out of the room before anything else happened, but admitted to meeting him twice more during the film festival, and alleged that on their third meeting, Weinstein raped her after an evening of partying with a number of people in the film industry.
A passage from the lawsuit reads: "After Plaintiff and Weinstein met with various people in their hotel suites, Weinstein brought Plaintiff back to his hotel suite. Weinstein then used his considerable size and strength advantage to pin Plaintiff down and rape her."
Weinstein allegedly assaulted the woman several other times over the next nine years, including once at the Toronto Film Festival in 2014.
The movie mogul is alleged to have asked her to meet him at his hotel room to discuss her career, and is said to have assured her he "wouldn’t do anything".
After the actress agreed to meet him, she alleges he once again "forced himself physically" on her.
The suit states: "Once in the hotel room, Weinstein began to force himself physically on Plaintiff. Weinstein again tried to force Plaintiff into sex acts against her will.
"When Plaintiff tried to fight him, Weinstein used his strength and size to pin her down. After much effort, Plaintiff managed to leave the room without Weinstein sexually penetrating her."
Jane Doe is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.