Issued on: Modified:
Mimi Haleyi, one of the woman former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is charged with sexually assaulting, told a jury on Monday he "lunged" at her in his New York City home in 2006, backing her into a bedroom and forcing oral sex on her.
Advertising
Read more
Haleyi, a former production assistant, began crying as she testified in a Manhattan courtroom while Weinstein watched from the defense table.
Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting Haleyi and Jessica Mann.
One of Weinstein's lawyers, Damon Cheronis, on cross-examination pressed Haleyi about her continued contact with Weinstein for several years after the alleged assault, showing her messages she sent him signed "lots of love" and "peace and love."
Since 2017, more than 80 women, including many famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
Weinstein, who reshaped the independent film industry with critically acclaimed pictures such as “The English Patient” and “Shakespeare in Love,” has denied the allegations and said any sexual encounters were consensual.
The trial is widely seen as a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement, in which women have accused powerful men in business, entertainment, media and politics of sexual misconduct.
Haleyi, 42, said Weinstein invited her to his SoHo home after she had worked on one of his television productions.
"At some point, fairly soon into meeting him there, he kind of came towards me and lunged at me," she said. "I got up from the sofa and said, 'Oh, no, no, no.'"
Haleyi said Weinstein backed her into a bedroom, held her down on the bed and forced himself on her orally.
She testified that she told Weinstein she had a tampon in, but that he pulled it out.
Haleyi said she subsequently accepted an invitation from Weinstein to meet him at a Tribeca hotel.
"I believe I was trying to regain some sort of power or something," she said.
When she met him, Haleyi said, Weinstein immediately pulled her onto the bed and had sex with her, calling her a “whore” and a “bitch.” She said that she did not fight back, but did not want to have sex with him.
Haleyi said that she blamed herself for that encounter.
Weinstein has not been criminally charged over Haleyi's second allegation.
On cross-examination, Cheronis asked Haleyi whether she had accepted trips to Los Angeles and London paid for by Weinstein shortly after the alleged attack, and questioned her decision to meet him again in London.
Cheronis presented Haleyi with several messages in which she asked Weinstein about possible jobs or, in one insRead More – Source
