CNN
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“Quick & Livid” franchise star Vin Diesel has been accused of sexual battery and making a hostile work atmosphere in a lawsuit filed by a former assistant.
The civil go well with, filed on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court docket and obtained by CNN, stems from a 2010 incident by which Diesel’s former assistant, Asta Jonasson, alleges Diesel pressured himself on her in a lodge suite in Atlanta and masturbated in entrance of her.
The grievance states Diesel ignored Jonasson’s “clear statements of non-consent,” and after she “screamed and ran in direction of the close by toilet,” he “pinned her towards the wall along with his physique.”
“Vin Diesel categorically denies this declare in its entirety,” Bryan Freedman, legal professional for Diesel, wrote in a press release to CNN afterward Friday. “That is the primary he has ever heard about this greater than 13 yr outdated declare made by a purportedly 9 day worker.”
Jonasson is suing Diesel, alongside along with his firm One Race Productions, and Diesel’s sister Samantha Vincent for sexual battery, making a hostile work atmosphere, negligent supervision and wrongful termination, amongst her different claims.
Jonasson claims that Samantha Vincent, the president of Diesel’s firm One Race on the time, known as her “mere hours” after the alleged assault and “terminated Ms. Jonasson’s employment.”
She is searching for an imposition of a civil penalty of $10,000 for every violation, plus unspecified punitive damages, based on the go well with.
“Nobody is simply too well-known or highly effective to evade justice,” Claire-Lise Kutlay of Greenberg Gross LLP, legal professional for Jonasson, wrote in a press release shared with CNN. “We hope her brave determination to come back ahead helps create lasting change and empowers different survivors.”
Diesel has appeared in additional than 60 TV and movie titles. He’s additionally among the many producers of the worldwide hit franchise of “Quick & Livid” movies. He has a number of upcoming tasks within the works, together with “Quick X: Half 2.”
This story has been up to date with further data.
CNN’s Elizabeth Wagmeister contributed to this story.