Asia Argento at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2018. Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Kering Asia Argento, a leading figure of the #MeToo…
Asia Argento at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2018. Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Kering
Asia Argento, a leading figure of the #MeToo movement, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old actor and arranging to pay him $380,000 to stop him taking legal action, according to a The New York Times.
The Italian actress allegedly sexually assaulted Jimmy Bennett in 2013, and quietly arranged the payments in the months after the #MeToo movement gained momentum last year, the Times reported.
The assault allegedly took place in a California hotel room in 2013, shortly after Bennett’s 17th birthday. Argento was 37 at the time. The age of consent in California is 18, meaning Argento could be charged with statutory rape if the claims are investigated by police.
Business Insider has contacted Argento’s agent and lawyers for comment. A representative for the actress declined to comment on the claims when contacted by the Times.
Business Insider has also contacted Bennett’s attorney, Gordon Sattro. The lawyer told the Times: “In the coming days, Jimmy will continue doing what he has been doing over the past months and years, focusing on his music.”
Argento is one of the most vocal figures in the #MeToo movement. Shortly after The New York Times detailed multiple sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein last October, Argento also told The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow that Weinstein had forcibly performed oral sex on her and raped her in 1997.
She added that she had multiple consensual sexual relations with Weinstein over the following five years because she felt “obliged.” She told Farrow: “After the rape, he won.”
Jimmy Bennett in Westwood, California, in February 2013. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Relativity Media
The Times said it discovered documents regarding Bennett’s claim and Argento’s arrangement for the money in an encrypted email sent from an unidentified party.
The cache included a document laying out Bennett’s graphic description of being reunited with the actress after they starred together in 2004 film “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.”
Citing the document, the Times said Bennett arrived at a Ritz-Carlton hotel room in Marina del Rey, California, with a family member for the meeting with Argento.
According to the document, Argento asked the family member to leave, then gave Bennett alcohol and showed him a series of notes she had written to him. Then, she allegedly kissed him, pushed him back on the bed, removed his pants, performed oral sex on him, and the two had sex.
Bennett then said Argento asked Bennett to take a number of photos. The Times also reported seeing a selfie, dated May 9,2013, of the two in bed. As part of the agreement, Bennett had to give the photograph and its copyright to Argento.
Getty Images
The 2013 incident left Bennett so traumatized that it hindered his work and income, and threatened his mental health. This was according to a notice of intent to sue that Bennett’s lawyer sent to Argento’s lawyer, Richard Hofstetter, in November 2017, which was also seen by the Times.
The notice of intent asked for $3.5 million in damages for the intentional infliction of emotional distress, lost wages, assault, and battery, the Times reported. Bennett sent his demand for money a month after Argento spoke to The New York Times about her experience with Weinstein.
It was Argento’s role in the #MeToo movement that prompted Bennett to file the lawsuit, the Times reported Bennett as claiming.
Gordon Sattro, Bennett’s lawyer, wrote in his intent to sue Argento: “His feelings about that day were brought to the forefront recently when Ms. Argento took the spotlight as one of the many victims of Harvey Weinstein.”
Argento is one of Harvey Weinstein’s most vocal accusers. Getty Images
Argento and Bennett had known each other since at least 2004, when they played a mother and son in the film “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.” In the years after the movie was made, the two continued to refer to each other as mother and son.
On the day the hotel room incident allegedly took place, Argento posted at least five photos on Instagram from her hotel room, four of which were of the two of them.
The captions included: ” Waiting for my long lost son my love @jimmymbennett in trepidation,” ” Happiest day of my life reunion with @jimmymbennett xox,” and ” My son my love until I will live @jimmymbennett marina del rey 05.2013.”
A month after the hotel room incident in May 2013, Bennett also sent Argento a Twitter message, saying: “Miss you momma!!!!” according to the Times. Bennett’s Twitter has since been shut down.
In the months following the incident, Bennett also appeared to have money troubles. He claimed his parents had barred him from the family home and kept his possessions, and cheated him out of at least $1.5 million in his earnings, according to the Times.
The Times also saw a letter addressed to Argento from her lawyer Carrie Goldberg, dated this April, confirming the final details of the deal and setting out a schedule of payments. Goldberg reportedly characterized the money as “helping Mr Bennett.”
According to the agreement, Argento was to pay Bennett $380,000 over the course of one-and-a-half years, starting with $200,000 that was paid in April.
Argento’s payments to Bennett don’t stop Bennett from speaking out about the incident, but do stop him from suing her or posting the photo of the two of them, the Times reported.
Goldberg, Argento’s lawyer, also wrote in a letter cited by the Times: “At the very least, he is not permitted to bother you for more money, disparage you or sue — so long as you comply with your obligations in the agreement.”
Argento’s late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain, whom she met in late 2016, also helped her with Bennett’s accusations, the Times reported. Representatives of Bourdain, and Bourdain’s separated wife Ottavia Busia declined to comment to The New York Times.
