Hush money allegation
Report: Weinstein accuser Asia Argento paid teen who made sex assault claim.
WASHINGTON: Italian actress Asia Argento, who became a leading figure in the #MeToo movement after accusing powerhouse producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, paid hush money to a man who claimed she sexually assaulted him when he was 17, The New York Times reported.
The US$380,000 (RM1.56mil) payment was made to Jimmy Bennett, an actor and rock musician, who claimed Argento assaulted him in a California hotel room in 2013, according to the Times on Sunday, which cited documents sent to the paper by an unidentified party.
Bennett was two months past his 17th birthday at the time of the alleged encounter while Argento was 37.
The legal age of consent in California is 18.
The pair are now 22 and 42, respectively.
The newspaper said that it had tried repeatedly, but without success, to get a comment on the matter from Argento and her representatives.
The terms of the deal, including a payment schedule, were finalised in April this year, according to the documents seen by the Times.
Among the documents it received was a selfie of the pair lying in bed dated May 9, 2013, that Bennett was supposed to hand over to Argento along with its copyright under the agreement.
The Times cited three people familiar with the case as saying the documents were authentic.
The pair acted together in the 2004 film The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, in which Argento plays Bennett’s troubled mother.
Argento’s lawyer Carrie Goldberg described the money as “helping Mr Bennett”, lamenting that the actress had to deal with people “who preyed on both your strengths and your weaknesses”.
Bennett’s lawyers had characterised the hotel encounter as a “sexual battery” that traumatised the former child actor, threatening his mental health and income.
His notice of intent to sue sought US$3.5mil (RM14.35mil) in damages for “intentional infliction of emotional distress, lost wages, assault and battery”, the paper said.
Argento became a powerful voice for the #MeToo movement after accusing Weinstein of raping her when she was 21 in his hotel room in 1997 during the Cannes film festival.