Photo from Wikimedia Commons. Harvey Weinstein is being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) after an unnamed actress is claiming that Weinstein raped her in 2013.
The 38-year-old Italian actress told the Los Angeles Times that she once met Weinstein in Rome, where she rebuffed his invitation to his hotel room. She ran into him again in February 2013 at the Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest, where at first it seemed like he didn’t remember her.
Later that evening, Weinstein asked the actress if he could meet her in her hotel room. The actress declined and suggested meeting downstairs instead, but Weinstein “bullied his way into my hotel room,” according to the actress.
“Once inside, he asked me questions about myself, but soon became very aggressive and demanding and kept asking to see me naked,” the actress told the Times. “He grabbed me by the hair and forced me to do something I did not want to do. He then dragged me to the bathroom and forcibly raped me.”
The actress added that Weinstein “acted like nothing happened” when he left.
“It was the most demeaning thing ever done to me by far,” said the actress. “It sickens me still. … He made me feel like an object, like nothing with all his power.”
She confided to a few people after the alleged rape occurred, but didn’t initially report it to the police out of fear of Weinstein’s power. The actress is now reporting it after her children told her she needed “to be strong.”
The LAPD announced on Twitter that they were in fact investigating Weinstein:
#LAPD Robbery Homicide Div has interviewed a potential sexual assault victim involving Harvey Weinstein in 2013. Investigation ongoing
— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) October 19, 2017
Journalist Yashar Ali suggested that there is more to come:
Given what I’ve heard, there will be more. https://t.co/pTIcul6l0W
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 19, 2017
The Times notes that Weinstein could face legal trouble over this rape allegation since it wouldn’t have expired under the statute of limitations.
There has been a torrent of sexual harassment and rape allegations against Weinstein, who is also facing being investigated for sex crimes in New York and London. The full list of his accusers can be seen here. Weinstein has recently been fired from his company and was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as the Producer’s Guild of America.
Weinstein has denied ever engaging in sexual intercourse that wasn’t consensual.
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