Harvey Weinstein ‘s lawyers sought Friday to raise doubts about a former model’s allegations in his sex crimes retrial, noting that she got a multimillion-dollar payout from civil suits against the former movie mogul.
And a defense attorney sought to suggest that Kaja Sokola hadn’t told the full story of her interactions with Weinstein. At one point, Weinstein attorney Mike Cibella repeatedly asked whether she’d invited Weinstein up to a New York apartment — and into the bedroom — where she was staying.
“No. And no, and no, and no to all previous three questions,” Sokola, 39, replied in a calm but firm tone.
The Polish psychotherapist has accused Weinstein of repeatedly sexually abusing her when she was a teenage fashion model. Some of those allegations are beyond the legal time limit for criminal charges, but Weinstein faces a criminal sex act charge over Sokoa’s claim that he forced oral sex on her in 2006. He denies it.
Prosecutors added the charge to the landmark #MeToo case last year, after an appeals court overturned his landmark #MeToo 2020 conviction. The guilty verdict pertained to allegations from two other women, who also have testified or are expected at the retrial.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies ever sexually assaulting anyone.
The Polish-born Sokola, 39, is a psychotherapist who had a jet-setting modeling career as a teen. She testified earlier this week that Weinstein exploited her youthful interest in an acting career to subject her to unwanted sexual advances, starting days after they met in 2002, while she was on a modeling trip to New York.
She told jurors that four years later, when she was 19, Weinstein lured her to a hotel room by saying he had a script for her to see, then pinned her down on a bed and performed oral sex on her as she implored him not to.
Sokola sued Weinstein several years ago over the alleged 2002 incident, and she ultimately received about $3.5 million in compensation. Her suits never mentioned the alleged 2006 assault. She testified Thursday that she’d had a tougher time coming to terms with it than she did with the alleged 2002 sex abuse.
Cibella underscored the omission, and he suggested that she sued to gain financial independence and be able to leave her now-estranged husband.
“That is not correct. I was working at two jobs, and I was earning more money than he was,” she testified.
Cibella pointed to differences in some details of Sokola’s testimony this week and what she told a grand jury last year, including the month of the alleged 2002 sexual abuse. The attorney also noted that Sokola is pursuing various legal pathways to stay in the U.S. long-term, and her involvement in the criminal case could help with one of them.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who allege they have been sexually assaulted, but Haley, Mann and Sokola have given their permission to be identified.
