Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, whose downfall started the global #MeToo movement, has been accused of sexually assaulting a former model when she was 16 years old.
A new lawsuit against the disgraced producer, who is trying to settle multiple claims of sexual abuse in a USD 25 million deal, claims that Weinstein assaulted Kaja Sokola, who came to the US from Poland to work as a model in 2002, the Hollywood Reporter said.
Sokola said she was introduced to the producer at an event related to her agency. Weinstein asked her to lunch, saying he will help her in acting.
She agreed for the lunch but alleges his driver brought them to Weinstein's apartment instead. There, she claims "he terrified and sexually abused her."
Sokola claims that prior to the assault, Weinstein told her to succeed as an actress "she would have to be comfortable doing whatever the director told her to do including losing her inhibitions and getting naked" and afterward insisted "what had just happened was normal."