Another woman came forward on Tuesday afternoon to say she had been sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein.
The latest in an avalanche of accusations against the producer came from actress and screenwriter Louisette Geiss who appeared at a press conference with high-profile attorney Gloria Allred to air her claims.
She told how in 2008, Weinstein invited her to his office for a meeting during the Sundance Film Festival in Utah under the pretense of discussing her new movie.
Geiss said that he insisted on listening to her pitch in his hot tub after emerging from the bathroom 30 minutes in to the meeting naked in an unfastened bathrobe.
She claims that he asked her to watch him masturbate and that when she told him she was leaving, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the bathroom.
‘I kept talking as he got into the hot tub. When I finished my pitch, he asked me to watch him masturbate. I told him I was leaving. He quickly got out of the hot tub,’ she said.
Louisette Geiss said on Tuesday that Weinstein asked her to watch him masturbate at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008 and promised her a ‘three movie deal in exchange’
Geiss said she went to leave but that he followed her and promised her career perks, so long as she gave into his request.
‘As I went to get my purse to leave, he grabbed my forearm and led me to his bathroom, pleading that I just watch him masturbate. My heart was racing and I was very scared.
‘I pulled my arm away finally and headed to the door. He started following me and telling me that he could introduce me to Bob Weinstein and that I could get a three-picture deal and that he would greenlight my script but I had to watch him masturbate.
‘I was on the verge of tears but I pulled it together and quickly exited,’ she said.
The woman appeared with attorney Gloria Allred to speak at the press conference on Tuesday
Weinstein (pictured at Sundance in 2008, left, and in New York last week, right) faces mounting allegations of sexual harassment and assault
Geiss teared up as she recalled the incident on Tuesday
Hers are the latest in a string of accusations against Weinstein made by Hollywood actresses and film industry insiders who, together, chronicle decades of sexual harassment by the producer.
Allred, who represented Bill Cosby and Donald Trump’s accusers, said Geiss was not the first woman to contact her with complaints about Weinstein.
The attorney’s daughter Lisa Bloom was working with Weinstein in the early days of the scandal last week but has since stepped away from the case.
Allred condemned her daughter’s involvement and said she would go up against her on behalf of any of Weinstein’s accusers.
Geiss has worked on TV shows including Two And A Half Men and The Drew Carey Show.
Before Weinstein’s advance on her, she said she had heard of Weinstein’s reputation for harassment and made him promise not to touch her but that he laughed it off.
The following year, she ‘abruptly’ quit the film industry. She is now a mother-of-two and works in real estate.