Harvey Weinstein filed legal papers Wednesday in two ongoing cases against him by women alleging sexual assault — as the court saga continues for the ex-movie mogul in jail for rape.
Weinstein’s legal team in one case urged a New York federal judge to order a woman — who filed a suit against him as “Jane Doe” — to identify herself and move ahead with the case, or drop it. Last month, the judge ruled that the woman cannot proceed unless she uses her real name. She alleges that Weinstein groped her at the Cannes Film Festival, and lured her into sex acts in Toronto and LA.
His lawyer, Imran H. Ansari of Aidala Bertuna & Kamins, wrote the judge that since the woman has not re-filed the suit under her name “this matter hangs in limbo, with salacious accusations publicly levied against [Weinstein], yet no ability to respond and assert his defense.”
Weinstein’s lawyers also filed papers in New York Supreme Court, denying that he sexually assaulted Polish former model Kaja Sokola when she was only 16. She alleges she went to meet Weinstein for a business lunch in 2002, after he promised to help her career, but that he instead attacked her at an apartment. But Weinstein’s lawyers wrote that: “Weinstein categorically, and emphatically, denies the salacious allegations by Sokola,” and that he, “vehemently contends that Sokola’s allegation of being 16-years-old when she met Weinstein is patently false.”
They also claim that the case is unconstitutional under New York State law.