Disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein has spoken out from behind bars to deny his latest accuser’s allegations that he sexually assaulted her when she was just 16.
Weinstein is currently incarcerated at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, where he is awaiting another felony trial following his convictions on third-degree rape and criminal sexual assault charges in New York.
In a remark to on Friday, Weinstein broke his silence to deny allegations made by Kaja Sokola, a former model who gave a rare interview published earlier this week.
Sokola was a 16-year-old teen model living in New York in September 2002 when she said Weinstein took her to his SoHo apartment and assaulted her – allegations she made in a 2019 court filing and the recent interview with Rolling Stone had set out.
“I know where I stand and how I’m viewed, but it doesn’t make every allegation against me true or factual,” Weinstein said in a statement through his rep. “It is not true that I met this woman in 2002.”
Sokola’s lawyers, Douglas Wigdor and Kevin Mintzer, fired back, telling : “Mr. Weinstein should focus his energies on his next multi-victim rape trial in California.
Disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein has spoken out from behind bars to deny his latest accuser’s allegations that he sexually assaulted her when she was just 16
Kaja Sokola, now 35, was a 16-year-old teenage model living in New York in September 2002 when she said Weinstein had taken her to his SoHo apartment and assaulted her
Sokola’s lawsuit against Weinstein is one of the few remaining in the scandal — and it also names Disney, which owned Weinstein’s Miramax production company from 1993 to 2010.
Most other lawsuits related to post-2005 misconduct allegations were consolidated and settled in Weinstein’s bankruptcy, and most pre-2005 claims were barred.
However, Sokola filed her lawsuit under a 2019 New York law that offered victims of child sexual abuse a temporary “hindsight window,” allowing them to file civil suits even after the normal statute of limitations had expired.
Weinstein’s legal team insists that if he met Sokola, it couldn’t have been before 2005, when she was 19 and therefore ineligible to sue under the Child Victims Act’s rear window.
“I understand the rationale for trying to use the law for a civil action, but it never happened,” Weinstein said.
Weinstein’s rep told that the film producer did not own the SoHo apartment described in Sokola’s lawsuit until 2005.
Weinstein is currently incarcerated at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, where he is awaiting another felony trial
Weinstein’s attorney, Imran H. Ansari, also said in a statement that evidence showed he did not meet Sokola in 2002.
“In response to the allegations made by Ms Sokola in her complaint, Mr Weinstein has categorically and vigorously denied and continues to deny the allegations made against him,” Ansari told .
“Importantly, Mr. Weinstein strongly maintains that Ms. Sokola’s claim that she was 16 when she met him is false,” he added.
Ansari argued that “a timeline of events supported by other evidence, including witness testimony, will refute Ms Sokola’s allegations of child sexual abuse,” barring her from filing suits under the Child Victims Act.
Sokol said in her recent interview that she hopes to hold Weinstein and his alleged enablers accountable for her lawsuit.
“No one is untouchable right now,” she said, adding of those close to Weinstein, “I’d ask, ‘Was it worth it?’ Because there’s no doubt in my mind that they knew.”
“I’m very curious if Harvey looks in the mirror and still thinks, ‘All these b***hes’, or if he has any kind of reconciliation with what he did.”
Kaja Sokola was just 16 in September 2002 when she said Weinstein sexually abused her in his New York apartment. She is pictured above in an undated photo
Sokola, now 35 and a psychologist in her native Poland, says she met Weinstein when she came to New York as a teen model and separated from her parents for the first time.
She was 16 and he was 50 when she says she met him at an event held by her agency NEXT Model Management.
“People at the event were like, ‘This is the king of Hollywood and he can make anything happen,'” Sokola recalled to Rolling Stone. “He said, ‘If you want to be an actress, I see that you have potential and I’d like to meet you for lunch and talk about it.’
“Of course I heard, ‘Don’t go out to eat. People can put all kinds of drugs in your drinks.’ But lunch seemed safe,’ she said.
As alleged in her lawsuit, Weinstein’s driver picked her up a few days later and dropped them off at his SoHo apartment.
At the apartment, the suit claims Weinstein forced her to undress while he “grabbed her breasts” before ejaculating on the floor.
Afterwards, she says he prevented her from leaving his home and then threatened her career.
“Harvey Weinstein has made it clear that denying his sexual demands would mean giving up an opportunity to make it in Hollywood,” the lawsuit reads.
Kaja Sokola can be seen in New York in 2010. She is now 35 and works as a psychologist in Poland
On counts based on separate allegations, a 2020 New York jury found Weinstein guilty of third-degree rape and a first-degree criminal sexual offense.
Weinstein, now 70, is serving a 23-year sentence in the case. He is currently being held in Los Angeles awaiting trial on additional charges.
Weinstein faces 11 charges in California for allegedly assaulting five women, which he denies. His trial there is scheduled for October.
In June he was also charged in the UK for the indecent assault on a woman in London in 1996.
It’s unclear if that case will ever go to trial, as British officials would have to decide whether to seek his extradition while he’s already serving a lengthy sentence in the US.
In all, nearly 90 women, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Salma Hayek, have accused Weinstein of molestation or assault. He denies all allegations.