Lawyer raped me: TV star
Suit alleges grim sex-assault ‘reality’
A high-powered entertainment lawyer allegedly raped a rising reality-TV star — taking her virginity — after plying her with cocaine in his Tribeca apartment, according to a shocking new lawsuit.
Jaime Gleicher, who burst onto the reality-TV scene as the star of MTV’s “Rich Girls” in 2003, sued attorney Roger Haber in Manhattan federal court this week, claiming he sexually assaulted her after implying he could help her career in 2004.
Gleicher, 37, is suing under the Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year window for sexual-assault accusers to sue their alleged attackers regardless of how long ago the alleged abuse occurred.
Gleicher was 19 when she first met Haber at downtown hot spot Butter, and she knew he had represented some of her friends in the entertainment industry.
Haber — who has repped the likes of James Gandolfini and Fred Gwynne, as well as former Miss America Cara Mund — invited Gleicher and her friends to his apartment, where he offered them cocaine, Gleicher claims in court filings.
Gleicher felt pressure to do the drugs “in large part because she perceived that Mr. Haber could wield enormous influence over her career,” the lawsuit alleges.
Gleicher’s friends left her alone in the apartment with Haber, who then pressured her into kissing him and removing her shirt, court papers allege. But she became selfconscious and asked the attorney for a blanket to cover herself up.
Gleicher claims she “explicitly” told Haber that she was not going to have sex with him and accompanied the attorney to the bedroom to get a blanket, where she again repeated she would not have sex.
“At the time, Ms. Gleicher had never had sexual intercourse,” the lawsuit states. “As discussed on national television in ‘Rich Girls,’ in an episode concerning Ms. Gleicher’s prom night, Ms. Gleicher was waiting to have sexual intercourse for the first time with someone with whom she was in a serious romantic relationship.”
Thinking Haber understood her ultimatum, Gleicher went to bed, but awoke to Haber on top of her and raping her, the lawsuit alleges.
Gleicher said she begged Haber to stop and was eventually able to get away from him, running to a nearby bathroom and locking herself inside.
She then attempted to leave the apartment, but Haber allegedly blocked her exit, telling her “you don’t get to leave until you finish me off ” before sexually assaulting her again, the lawsuit alleges.
After she got home, Gleicher went with her mother to Mount Sinai West, where she was examined, had DNA evidence taken, and told a psychiatrist about the alleged rape.
She declined to report the incident to police at the time.
“Ultimately, Ms. Gleicher elected not to engage law enforcement . . . . She was terrified that she would forever be identified and shamed as a victim of rape and that her writing career would be ruined as a result,” the lawsuit states.
Gleicher later ignored a call from Haber in which he claimed he wanted to “check in,” and she has not seen him since, according to the lawsuit.
“She also understood that Mr. Haber wielded significant influence in the entertainment industry that she was hoping to enter and thus chose the path of silence for many years,” the suit added.
The assault left her traumatized, and Gleicher battled drug addiction and eating disorders and underwent multiple rehabilitation programs, according to her lawsuit.
She now works as a social worker and therapist in New York.
Haber, who boasts being a father of five on Twitter, heads Artists Financial Management, a company that advises students, performers and other creative professionals in West Hollywood.
“Mr. Haber categorically denies the baseless allegations in the complaint,” said Carrie Cohen, Haber’s attorney.