Actress Paz de la Huerta filed a $60 million lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein on Monday, seeking damages for alleged assault, sexual battery and emotional distress.
Last fall, the “Boardwalk Empire” actress publicly accused Weinstein of raping her twice in 2010 in New York City and sexually assaulting her a year later in Los Angeles. After the Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to press charges in December, de la Huerta is suing Weinstein in California superior court.
De la Huerta claims in the suit that Weinstein’s actions have caused her “physical injury, severe emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, mental and emotional distress and anxiety.”
The actress also claims that Weinstein derailed her career after she refused his advances during the third incident in Los Angeles. According to the lawsuit, de la Huerta was “warned by Weinstein that any effort to take legal action against him would fail and would prompt him to interfere with her future success and career as an actress.”
The lawsuit includes images of Weinstein talking to “Boardwalk Empire” producer Martin Scorsese three weeks before de la Huerta’s contract on the show was abruptly terminated. This “led her to reasonably believe that Weinstein was making good on threats to harm her career if she defied him,” the suit reads.
De la Huerta estimates that Weinstein cost her $55 million over the course of her career.
“We commenced an investigation to get data to corroborate the specific dates,” Aaron G. Filler, de la Huerta’s attorney, told The New York Times. “We relied on archival photography to show the dates of the initial event, the second rape in New York and the third event in Los Angeles.”
Weinstein lawyer Benjamin Brafman issued a statement in response to the suit, calling de la Huerta “an unstable personality with a vivid imagination.”
“It is our understanding that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office carefully reviewed Ms. De la Huerta’s claims of sexual assault by Mr Weinstein many months ago and made a conscious decision to reject her as a complainant for obvious reasons,” Brafman said.
“We also believe that her newly minted version of events including her new California claims are equally preposterous and unfortunately, the product of an unstable personality with a vivid imagination,” he added.
De la Huerta’s lawsuit also names the Four Seasons Hotel, The Weinstein Co. and Burton Way Hotels, claiming the companies “demonstrated severe malice through their disregard for the harm and humiliation of multiple women over multiple years,” adding that the businesses chose “profits over their responsibilities as innkeepers and business persons, even participating and knowingly aiding Harvey Weinstein in his actions.”
Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct, including rape and assault, by more than 70 women. The movie mogul was indicted on rape charges in May, to which he pleaded not guilty. In July, he was indicted on more assault charges, including two counts of predatory sexual assault, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Last month, Weinstein was sued for allegedly subjecting a 16-year-old Polish model to years of sexual assault, harassment and emotional abuse.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.