Harvey Weinstein has been accused of sexually assaulting a minor in an amended class action complaint filed Wednesday in New York.
The fallen movie mogul vehemently denied the accusation, brought forth by an anonymous woman who said she was repeatedly attacked from 2002 to 2011, beginning when she was 16 and an aspiring model trying to make it in New York.
The accusations fall largely in line with dozens of others made against Weinstein, including intimidation, unwanted touching and pressure to perform sexual favors in exchange for business opportunities in Hollywood.
After the initial encounter, the woman named as Jane Doe in the complaint continued to have dealings with Weinstein, including trying out for “America’s Top Model.” She alleges that she didn’t receive any work from Weinstein or his company because she rebuffed his advances.
The young woman, a Polish model, said Weinstein arranged a business lunch for the two of them, which wound up being a private visit to his SoHo apartment where he encouraged her to remove her clothes and massage his genitals.
“This claim is preposterous. Like so many other women in this case who have already been exposed as liars, this latest completely uncorroborated allegation that is almost 20 years old will also be shown to be patently false,” said Ben Brafman, Weinstein’s criminal defense attorney.
The complaint serves as an update to a class action lawsuit filed against Weinstein — accusing him, his brother Bob and board members at the Weinstein Company of racketeering. It was dismissed in mid-September, with a judge bemoaning a lack of detail in how Weinstein and his cohorts might have operated to conceal his alleged predation, according to the suit.
As it stands, Weinstein has been arraigned on sexual crime charges in a New York court. Investigations into misconduct are ongoing in Los Angeles and London.