A federal judge has denied Harvey Weinstein's motion to dismiss a sex trafficking claim filed by a woman who alleges she was raped by the producer.
Wedil David first filed suit against Weinstein in state court in November 2017, under the name Jane Doe.
The case has since moved to federal court, and in May, David's attorneys amended the complaint to include a claim of sex trafficking.
According to David's suit, Weinstein told her that he was considering her for a role in the show Marco Polo, and used that as a lure to get her to come to his room at the Montage Hotel in early 2016.
Several Weinstein accusers have accused him of violating the federal sex trafficking statute, by effectively offering to exchange movie roles for sex.
Weinstein's attorneys have sought to throw those charges out, claiming that scenario is not what Congress had in mind when it wrote the statute.
Harvey Weinstein. Source: AFP
But several judges have now allowed the claim to proceed, finding that the plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that Weinstein was engaged in "commercial sex acts".
Judge Robert W Sweet, who died in March, wrote a ruling in August 2018 in which he held that a meeting with Weinstein could be considered a "thing of value" under the statute.
"For an aspiring actress, meeting a world-renowned film producer carries value, in and of itself," he wrote.
"The opportunity, moreover, for the actress to sit down with that producer in a private meeting to review her film reel and discuss a promised film role carries value that is career-making and life-changing."
US District Judge Ronnie Abrams cited that ruling, among others, in refusing to dismiss the sex trafficking claim in the David suit on Thursday.
Several Weinstein accusers have accused him of violating the federal sex trafficking statute, by effectively offering to exchange movie roles for sex. Source: Getty Images North America
David is among a handful of plaintiffs who have refused to take part in a "global settlement" of sex misconduct claims against Weinstein.
He was also hit on Thursday with a civil complaint from a woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by the indie movie mogul when she was 16.
Kaja Sokola claims that Weinstein, the former head of Miramax and the Weinstein Company, met her at an event put on by her modelling agency in 2002 when she was still a minor.
The suit alleges Weinstein arranged to have lunch with her at a restaurant to talk about her career, but after picking her up, he took her to his Soho apartment.
Sokola, an aspiring actress, claims the film executive bullied her into allowing him to fondle her and made her touch his penis.
Weinstein's brother and former business partner Bob Weinstein is also named in the suit, as is Miramax and the Walt Disney Company.
Sokola's allegations were first filed in 2018, when she was part of a class-action lawsuit at which time she also was identified as Jane Doe.
In a statement, Sokola said she did not want to be part of a global settlement of that case, saying the terms were unjust and allowed Weinstein to avoid accountability.
With AAP...
