A Manhattan judge took an ax to the $18 million a jury awarded to a beautiful Swedish intern in her sexual harassment and defamation lawsuit against real-life wolf of Wall Street Benjamin Wey.
Hanna Bouveng must now either accept $5.65 million in total damages — or face a new trial to hash out the award, federal Judge Paul Gardephe said in a 111-page ruling issued Thursday on Wey’s motion appealing the award.
Last summer, a jury awarded the brunette $16 million for punitive damages and $2 million in compensatory damages in her civil lawsuit against the horndog CEO.
But that’s now in jeopardy given Gardephe’s take-it-or-leave-it ruling, which reduces the payout to $4 million in punitive and $1.65 million in compensatory damages.
The judge cited a lopsided ratio between the two sums as one of his reasons for the cutback. He denied Wey’s motion for a new trial on the grounds of liability.
Bouveng, 26, has until April 10 to decide whether to take the money.
She sued Wey, 44, for pressuring her into having sex and posting nasty lies about her online that she was a cocaine-addicted prostitute, her lawsuit said.
Her attorney David Ratner declined to comment, saying he hadn’t fully reviewed the decision.
In an exclusive interview with The Post days after the verdict, Bouveng slammed Wey as a “psychopath” who tried to “control and isolate her” – on top of being a 2-minute man in bed.
“He manipulated me, and he broke me down in various different ways. It could be the way he was acting in the office, depending on whether I had dinner with him or not,’’ she said at the time.
Wey’s attorneys didn’t immediately return messages.
But the head of New York Global Group — who has since been indicted on alleged stock manipulation charges — raved on Twitter: “#winning #journalist #benjaminwey #defeat false harassment lawsuit, #victory for #america: $850m extortion in smoke.”
Wey is just the latest creepy CEO to make headlines: