F1 driver says Montreal woman’s groping claim an extortion attempt
MONTREAL — Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen has filed a complaint with Montreal police alleging extortion and harassment by a woman who claims he grabbed her breast at a bar during Grand Prix weekend in 2016.
The allegations against the Ferrari driver are detailed in a blog item by the Montreal woman, who doesn’t name Räikkönen explicitly in the post.
The alleged victim, who was working as a waitress, accuses him of grabbing her breast and a member of his entourage of touching her genitals as she tried to get them to settle a bar tab.
A member of the F1 pilot’s legal team who did not want to be named told the Canadian Press on Tuesday that Räikkönen denies the allegations and claims to not know the woman or have touched her.
But a lawyer for the woman says her client is devastated and feels sideswiped and shocked by the Finnish driver’s legal manoeuvre.
“Our position is pretty simple,” said lawyer Jamie Benizri of Legal Logik, the firm representing the woman. “Faced with allegations of this nature, we’re obviously shocked, disturbed that this would be the response.”
Benizri wouldn’t disclose the woman’s age or the amount of money being sought, but the representative of Räikkönen’s legal team described it as extremely high.
The woman’s lawyer also wouldn’t comment on the public blog posts that outline the allegations.
But he pushed back against the allegation of blackmail, saying it was “a little more graceful than an offer to settle for cash.”
“What we were looking for was an opportunity to sit down, what we were looking for was an opportunity to come to terms with what had happened to my client,” Benizri said.
“Unfortunately, that was completely misconstrued and I think they jumped the gun to defend themselves or potentially thwart an imminent action.”
Benizri said his client will co-operate with investigators and provide her version of events to police.
He said no motions have been filed in court and no course of action has been ruled out.
Räikkönen’s representative said the woman had been threatening to go public with her allegations.
The complaint against the Montreal resident with police was filed Monday on behalf of Räikkönen, who is being represented by a Montreal law firm.
City police would not comment. Räikkönen, 38, is competing in the F1 Canadian Grand Prix Montreal on June 10.