The Italian model and actress whose testimony was the sole basis for Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction in Los Angeles has filed a civil lawsuit against the disgraced “Pulp Fiction” producer.
Weinstein faced seven counts of rape and sexual assault based on the testimony of three women – including Jennifer Siebel Newsom – in the two-month trial late last year, but allegations brought by Jane Doe 1 were the only to end in conviction. The other counts ended in a hung jury and acquittal.
Jane Doe 1 testified that she and Weinstein met only briefly at the Italia Film Fest in 2013, but he showed up late that night at her hotel room door unannounced. She said he “bullied” his way into her room, then sexually assaulted and raped her in the bathroom; Weinstein maintained the encounter was consensual.
Based on her testimony, a jury found Weinstein guilty on one count of forcible rape, one count of forcible penetration by a foreign object, and one count of forced oral copulation.
The woman’s civil lawsuit, filed Thursday in the California Superior Court of Los Angeles, includes claims of sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeks unspecified damages. The suit also includes unnamed parties who it says failed to fulfill responsibilities that would have prevented the assault.
The woman’s lawsuit was filed just before California’s 10-year statute of limitations.
Weinstein is already serving 23 years in a New York prison for criminal first-degree sexual assault and third-degree rape, a conviction he has been granted the right to appeal. He had faced an additional 60 years in a California prison had the jury convicted him on all seven counts, but with the split verdict, he now faces between 18 and 24 years, which can only be served after his New York time.