Asia Argento, Actress at Center of Harvey Weinstein Accusations, Reportedly Paid Sexual Assault Accuser $380K

In a bombshell report from The New York Times, Asia Argento, one of Harvey Weinstein‘s most high-profile accusers, agreed to pay $380,000 to her own accuser.

Documents anonymously sent to the Times and verified with three people familiar with the case show that months after Argento accused Weinstein of forcing oral sex on her, the 42-year-old Italian actress reached a financial settlement with Jimmy Bennett, who once played her son in a 2004 film.

Bennett, now 22, claimed that in 2013, then-37-year-old Argento sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room two months after he turned 17, still 10 months away from the legal age of consent.

In the documents, Bennett claimed that Argento kissed him before performing oral sex on him and engaging in intercourse at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, according to the Times.

The newspaper reports that representatives for Argento did not respond to multiple requests leading up to the story’s publication on Sunday. Bennett declined an interview but his attorney said, “In the coming days Jimmy will continue doing what he has been doing over the past months and years, focusing on his music.”

The Times also reports that Anthony Bourdain, Argento’s late boyfriend who died of suicide in June, “helped Ms. Argento navigate the matter.” Additional details about his involvement were not available.

As part of the settlement, Bennett forfeited the copyright to a selfie from May 9, 2013 of Bennett and Argento lying in bed. The Times says it received the photo among the other documents.

Bennett reportedly asked Argento in November in his intent to sue for $3.5 million in damages for the intentional infliction of emotional distress, lost wages, assault and battery. Bennett’s attorney, Gordon K. Sattro, wrote that Bennett’s “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’s attorney, Carrie Goldberg, reportedly wrote to Argento about the agreement and payment plan in an email, describing the money as “helping Mr. Bennett.”

“We hope nothing like this ever happens to you again,” Goldberg wrote, according to the Times. “You are a powerful and inspiring creator and it is a miserable condition of life that you live among s—ty individuals who’ve preyed on both your strengths and your weaknesses.”

Argento is one of the over 60 women who have accused disgraced producer Weinstein of sexual assault, harassment and rape. In an October New Yorker piece by Ronan Farrow, she accused Weinstein of forcing oral sex on her in 1997.

“I was not willing,” she told Farrow of Weinstein. “I said, ‘No, no, no.’ … It’s twisted. A big fat man wanting to eat you. It’s a scary fairy tale.”

She told Farrow that she had “consensual sexual relations with [Weinstein] multiple times over the course of the next five years” after the alleged assault. Calling the incidents “one-sided and onanistic,” she worried Weinstein would “ruin her career if she didn’t comply.”

Weinstein has denied allegations of non-consensual sex as well as any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.

Earlier this summer, Weinstein was indicted on two counts of rape and a single count of criminal sex acts. He denies one of the rape charges and says the sex was consensual and is pushing for the dismissal of the charge. He also faces additional charges, including a count of criminal sexual acts in the first degree and a forcible sexual act against another woman in 2006. Prosecutors also added two counts of predatory sexual assault.

Photo credit: Jason LaVeris / Contributor / Getty