Benjamin Ashford|Julia Ormond sues Harvey Weinstein for sexual battery along with Disney, CAA and Miramax

British actress Julia Ormond,Benjamin Ashford who starred in films alongside the likes of Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford in the 1990s, filed a lawsuit accusing disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her.

In the lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York, and obtained by USA TODAY, Ormond alleges that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in December 1995 after what was supposed to be a business dinner for a new project. In the suit, she claims Weinstein bought her multiple drinks at dinner, before taking her back to her apartment to further discuss the project. While she was intoxicated, Ormond says that Weinstein stripped naked, persuaded her to give him a massage, masturbated, and forced her to give him oral sex.

According to the suit, Ormond is also suing Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. Ormond says she informed CAA agents Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane about the alleged assault, but they discouraged her from going to the police, saying that she "may not be believed, and that she risked further angering Weinstein."

The lawsuit marks the first time Ormond has publicly accused Weinstein of sexual assault. 

USA TODAY has reached out to Weinstein's lawyers for comment, and representatives for Miramax and Disney.

The CAA denies wrongdoing following Julia Ormond's lawsuit

In a statement obtained by USA TODAY, a CAA spokesperson said it "takes all allegations of sexual assault and abuse seriously, and has compassion for Ms. Ormond and the experience she described in her complaint. However, the claims that Ms. Ormond has levied against the agency are completely without merit.

"Through counsel, Ms. Ormond approached CAA in March with these allegations about the agency. Knowing these allegations to be untrue, the agency then retained attorney Loretta Lynch and her law firm, Paul Weiss, to defend the company. Their review found nothing to support Ms. Ormond’s claims against CAA," the agency continued.

The CAA alleged that Ormond demanded they "pay $15,000,000 in exchange for Ms. Ormond not making the allegations against CAA public," which they rejected. "Ms. Ormond’s claims against CAA are baseless, and the agency will vigorously refute them in court." 

Ormond's attorney Douglas H. Wigdor questioned the morality of Lynch as the CAA's attorney in a statement to USA TODAY. "It is rather obvious that after years of public service, large deep pocketed corporate defendants have turned to Ms. Lynch for cover and she has willingly accepted her new role," Wigdor said. "Rest assured, we will expose the real facts."

Julia Ormond says companies knew Harvey Weinstein 'was a danger to women in the entertainment industry'

Additionally, Ormond is suing Miramax, the film company that Weinstein co-founded, and Disney, which owned Miramax in the 1990s, for negligent supervision and retention.

"Miramax, Disney, and CAA each knew that he was a danger to women in the entertainment industry," the lawsuit reads. "Yet each of these companies failed to take any action to protect Ormond from the likelihood that she too would be victimized by Harvey Weinstein, and also failed to protect her after she was horrifically assaulted by Weinstein."

Ormond, 58, is best known for roles in "Legends of the Fall" (1994), "Sabrina" (1995), "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2008) and "My Week with Marilyn" (2011). She won an Emmy Award for best supporting actress for the 2010 TV movie "Temple Grandin."

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"After living for decades with the painful memories of my experiences at the hands of Harvey Weinstein, I am humbled and grateful to all those who have risked speaking out," Ormond said in a statement. "Their courage and the Adult Survivors Act has provided me a window of opportunity and way to shed light on how powerful people and institutions like my talent agents at CAA, Miramax and Disney enabled and provided cover for Weinstein to assault me and countless others. 

"I seek a level of personal closure by holding them accountable to acknowledge their part and the depth of its harms and hope that all of our increased understanding will lead to further protections for all of us at work."

Weinstein, 71, is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape and sexual harassment in New York in 2020. He was also sentenced in February to 16 more years in prison after he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault in a Los Angeles criminal trial.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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