Sources close to Harvey Weinstein are hitting out at a former model accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her when she was 16 in 2002, after he invited her to discuss her career, by revealing emails in 2011 which show her asking him for career help.
Kaja Sokola, 33, filed a lawsuit against Weinstein on Thursday describing how he allegedly ‘grabbed at her breasts’ and ‘forced her to touch his penis’ in his apartment in 2002.
The Polish former model says she had not long arrived in America and was desperate to launch her career. She had met Weinstein, she claimed, at a modeling party and he invited her to lunch to discuss her prospects.
Sokola alleges that when she showed up for their meeting, however, he ‘aggressively demanded’ sex and tried to block her from leaving.
In her original complaint filed in October 2018, she describes how she continued to maintain a relationship with him and sought help from him for work for years later before cutting off contact in 2011.
A source close to Weinstein revealed emails on Friday which show her contacting Weinstein’s former associate, Barbara Schneeweiss, asking her to vouch for her to modeling and acting agencies in November 2011. She would have been 25 at the time.
‘Hi barbara, how are you?’ she wrote, going on in broken English: ‘I would like to send some materials about me to agents. When I called the agencys (sic), they said I need someone from outside to introduce me to then… or something like this very strange construction, anyway maybe you tell someone about me, so i can get back to them.
In 2011, Kaja emailed Weinstein’s office asking for help. She wanted to be introduced to agents and asked one of Weinstein’s assistants if she could. Weinstein instructed her to ‘get out of this in a nice way’
Kaja Sokola, now 33, says she met Weinstein not long after moving to the US from Poland with dreams of becoming a star
‘hahaha, well, it doesn’t make much sense, but that’s world 🙂 xoxo kaja,’ the email reads.
Schneeweiss sent it on to Weinstein and asked how he wanted it handled.
He told her: ‘Get out of this in a nice way.’
A representative for Weinstein would not comment on the record and the movie mogul himself is saying nothing publicly after calling himself a ‘forgotten man’ in a recent, widely-criticized interview.
Kaya’s attorneys say that presenting her emails now is akin to a ‘classic rape myth’ that accusers should not be trusted if they contact their alleged attackers after the fact.
Sokola is shown in 2010. She eventually left New York and now lives in Poland
‘To the extent that they’re going to try to look at emails she sent after the fact, because she like many women wanted a job… we should be looking at Mr. Weinstein’s conduct, not our client’s,’ Douglas Wigdor told DailyMail.com on Friday.
Sokola’s continued contact with Weinstein and his office after the alleged 2002 incident were referenced in her original lawsuit to him.
She described, in those documents, how he ‘continued to emotionally abuse and sexually harass her for nearly a decade’ after they first met.
For years, she said, she learned how to ‘let him down gently’ while still trying to milk him for industry influence.
In 2008, after going to L.A. and returning to New York to try one final time to launch an acting career, she said she was disheartened when he told her she would have to continue modeling.
Sokola describes one alleged incident where she went to his office and he stopped mid-conversation while footage of Christina Aguilera came across his TV.
‘Wow, I’d like to f**k that p***y’, she claims he said, before unzipping his pants and touching his penis.
Towards the end of their relationship, he offered her a modeling job on Project Runway and set her up with Schneeweiss to arrange it.
She also said she went on an audition for Marchesa but didn’t get the job and said she felt ‘guilty’ seeing Weinstein’s wife, Georgina Chapman, the label’s owner, there with their baby.
Sokola said she and Weinstein did not speak after 2011.
Her claim was dismissed from the class action by a judge not based on merit but because she did not meet the timing requirements of the Child Victim’s Act, which opens up a one-year window for anyone who claims they are the victim of such a crime in New York to sue their alleged assailant.
She filed hers too early instead of waiting the six months required by law after Andrew Cuomo signed it info effect.
Sokola said on Thursday, as she filed her own lawsuit, that she was motivated to do it because she rejected his settlement with the other accusers.
Other women who have accused Weinstein of abuse have told how they felt compelled to stay on good terms with him to save their careers.
Among them is Rose McGowan, who was photographed smiling with him years after he allegedly raped her, and Ashkey Judd, one of the first to speak out against him.
They say Weinstein was so powerful in the entertainment industry that even though he had allegedly attacked them, they could not speak up and had to keep relying on his influence to boost their careers.
Those who did speak out or act up claim they were blacklisted.
In a previous rebuttal of her allegations, when they were anonymous, Weinstein’s former lawyer Ben Brafman said: ‘This claim is preposterous.
‘Like so many other women in this case who have already been exposed as liars, this latest completely uncorroborated allegation that is almost 20 years old will also be shown to be patently false.’
A spokesperson for the star declined to comment on Friday.