Asia Argento accused of sexual assault: Rose McGowan heartbroken
According to a new report, actress Asia Argento, one of the first prominent women to accuse disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, agreed to pay off her own sexual assault accuser. Fellow #MeToo activist and Weinstein accuser Rose McGowan says her 'heart is broken.'
Actress Asia Argento, one of the first prominent women to accuse disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, agreed to pay $380,000 to an actor who accused her of sexually assaulting him when he was 17 years old, The New York Times reported Sunday night.
The actor claimed that the assault took place in a California hotel room in 2013, according to the report. The age of consent in California is 18.
Neither Argento's representatives nor the actor's attorney immediately responded to Fox News' request for comment.
The newspaper obtained documents sent between lawyers for Argento and the accuser that laid out a payment schedule. The paper also obtained a photograph dated May 9, 2013 that showed the two lying in a bed together.
On that date, according to a notice of intent to sue document sent to Argento's then-lawyer in November, Argento met the actor at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey, Calif. After giving him alcohol, Argento kissed him and performed oral sex on him before the two had sexual intercourse, the report said.
The notice of intent asked for $3.5 million in damages. The Times reported that the final agreement was reached in April of this year.
Argento, now 42, played a prominent role in the downfall of Weinstein, the former head of Miramax. In October of last year, The New Yorker published allegations by Argento that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 1997.
"I was not willing,” she told journalist Ronan Farrow at the time. "I said, 'No, no, no.' ... It's twisted. A big fat man wanting to eat you. It's a scary fairy tale."
Argento added that she occasionally had consensual sexual encounters with Weinstein over the years, because she felt she "had to" and "didn't want to anger him."
The allegations against Weinstein by Argento and other actresses -- including Ashley Judd, Gwenyth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Rose McGowan -- gave rise to the global "MeToo" movement and prompted a re-examination of the behavior of prominent men in other industries, most notably media and entertainment.
Weinstein has since been charged in New York with first- and third-degree rape and first-degree commission of a criminal sex act. He faces up to 37 years in prison if convicted.
As of Sunday evening, the pinned tweet on Argento's Twitter account referenced a speech she gave at May's Cannes Film Festival in France, an event she described as Weinstein's "hunting ground."
"For all the brave women who came forward denouncing their predators, and for all the brave women who will come forward in the future," she wrote. "We got the power."
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