Oscar-winning filmmaker Haggis accused of rape, sex assault

LOS ANGELES -- A civil lawsuit charging Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis with raping a publicist has prompted three additional women to come forward with their own sexual misconduct accusations, including another publicist who says he forced her to perform oral sex, then raped her.

One of the other women speaking out told The Associated Press that Haggis tried to sexually assault her. "I need to be inside you," she recalled him saying, before she managed to run away.

Another of the new accusers said Haggis held down her arms, forcibly kissed her on a street corner, then followed her into a taxi. She said she later escaped his clutches.

When asked about the new accusations, Christine Lepera, attorney for the 64-year-old screenwriter of "Million Dollar Baby" and "Crash," said, "He didn't rape anybody."

Haggis has denied the original rape allegation in a countercomplaint to the lawsuit, and said the accuser and her lawyer had demanded a $9 million payment to avoid legal action, which he characterized as extortion.

The plaintiff in the lawsuit, filed Dec. 15 in Manhattan, is identified in court papers as Haleigh Breest. The other three women subsequently came forward to Breest's New York attorneys. They spoke to the AP on the condition that they not be identified for fear of retribution. The AP generally does not identify people who say they were the victims of sexual assault.

On Friday afternoon, Breest's attorneys filed an amended complaint to include details of the allegations lodged by the three new accusers.

In separate interviews with the AP, the three provided detailed accounts of encounters they say occurred between 1996 and 2015. The women were early in their careers in the entertainment business when, they say, the Hollywood heavyweight lured them to private or semi-private places under the guise of discussing productions or a subject of a professional nature.

They all said Haggis first tried to kiss them. In two of the cases, they said, when they fought back, Haggis escalated his aggression.

The new rape accuser said she was a 28-year-old publicist working on a television show being produced by Haggis in 1996 when he called to ask to review photos from the show that night in her office. She said he insisted they speak in a back office and Haggis began kissing her as soon as they walked into the room. He then made her perform oral sex, pushed her to the ground and raped her, she said.

The woman said she felt inspired to come forward after seeing Haggis' photo and a news story about Breest's lawsuit, amid the growing #MeToo movement of women speaking out about sexual misconduct by powerful men in Hollywood, politics, the media and other industries.

Breest accuses Haggis of raping her after he lured her back to his apartment in Manhattan following a film premiere in 2013. She said he had accepted a ride home but instead he brought her to his apartment in SoHo and invited her inside for a drink.

Quickly, Haggis became "sexually aggressive," she said in her

ACROSS

1 before Christ

3 veggie in a pod

6 expression of pain, delight, regret, surprise

8 letter ‘R’

9 creative skill

10 salt / sodium

11 highest points

14 African fly causing sleeping sickness

18 sugary / affectionate

19 silly / affected

21 preposition

23 one who carries and transmits disease germs

24 (chem) iron

25 musical note

26 attempt / essay

27 indicates a married woman’s maiden name

28 preposition

29 vapor / steam / fog

32 Philippine currency

34 close by physically 35 uncluttered / orderly

36 celebrity

39 fencing

41 you and I

42 benign skin tumor

44 unit of surface measure in the metric system

46 not yes

47 commercial

48 list of things to deal with at a meeting

49 South America

50 science of reasoning

52 jumbled letters to read ‘mines’ 55 person appointed to administer a kingdom in the absence of the monarch or because the monarch is a minor / ruler 56 jumbled letters to read ‘toiled’ 57 (chem) aluminum

58 one of the elements / tune / melody

60 British for ‘thank you’ 61 northeast

62 route

63 elevated railway

lawsuit, and began kissing her.

She said Haggis asked her, "You're scared of me, aren't you?"

Haggis then forced her into a bedroom and onto a bed and tried to tear off her tights, she said. She called out "no," but he wouldn't stop, she said.

He forced her to perform oral sex on him, fondled her, asked if she liked anal sex, then raped her, according to the lawsuit.

The third accuser was in her 30s when she went to a 9 p.m. meeting at Haggis' Los Angeles office in the late 2000s to pitch him a potential television show. She said other employees quickly left, and that when she down on a couch in his office, there was a bottle of wine open on his desk. She said Haggis told her he had an arrangement with his wife to have extramarital relationships.

Panicked, she said, she looked

DOWN

1 hinders / rods; sticks / establishments serving alcohol

2 group working together

/ workers / band

3 all fancy-baked goods including cakes, pies, etc.

4 Emergency Room

5 achieve / accomplish

6 emmets

7 a chopped mixture of cooked meat and vegetable usually browned or baked

12 school of thought

13 droplets from the eyes caused by emotions / rips / tatters 15 velocity / rate of motion / swiftness 16 former official name of Ireland 17 tranquil / peaceful 20 presidential power to refuse to sign a bill

22 contaminated / besmirched / tarnished

24 makes secure / joins together / bolts

30 ocean / ‘bounding main’ / briny deep

31 dark sticky liquid obtained by the destructive distillation of wood, coal, peat 32 pedal / pedestal

33 water

36 trade / exchange

37 start / commence

38 thin easily digested broth made by cooking meal in water or milk / porridge

40 money given temporarily / credit / lend

42 carry on / engage

43 ‘Drink of the Gods’

44 hold in high esteem

45 emanate / exude

50 twiggy; gangly

51 stare / gaape at

53 observe / heed

54 stamp / authenticate 59 ‘Information Technology’

for her car keys and an escape route, as Haggis came around a table and tried to kiss her.

She ran to her car. Haggis followed, but she managed to get in and drive off before calling her sister and several friends, she said. A friend told the AP she remembered being informed about the incident.

The new accuser who said Haggis forcibly kissed her, then followed her into her taxi, said the encounter occurred in 2015 in Canada. She said she was in her late 20s at the time and knew Haggis from film events.

She said that when the taxi arrived at her apartment, Haggis threw money at the driver, chased her and kissed her again before she was able to get into her residence and shut the door. She said Haggis sent her harassing text messages, until she blocked him.