The model arrived in New York City a few days before 2002. She left her family in Poland and hoped to be a star.
Then she met Harvey Weinstein.
Ms. Sokola told a Manhattan jury on Thursday that the model Kaja Sokola is 16 and Mr. Weinstein, a 50-year-old producer, met at the club and received her phone number.
She recalls that he invited her to lunch and talked about her wishes in the movie. Instead, he took her to the Soho apartment where he forced her to masturbate in the bathroom as he touched her.
More than 20 years later, Ms. Sokora said in court for the first time that she would break in and sobb. Mr. Weinstein sat at the defense table and leaned against his head and listened.
Ms. Sokora said Mr. Weinstein beat her several more times in the early 2000s after that encounter. The incident she described was too old to be the subject of criminal charges. But four years later, Ms. Sokora said she worked in New York and went to Mr. Weinstein’s midday meeting with her sister when he took her to a hotel room and sexually assaulted her.
The incident is part of a criminal case against Mr. Weinstein during a retrial that began last month. Mr. Weinstein was charged with criminal sexual acts against Ms. Sokora with her first degree, one of three women prosecutors said he attacked.
In 2020, Mr. Weinstein, 73, was convicted in New York and sentenced to 23 years in prison. But the state’s Supreme Court overturned the decision last year. The judges found that prosecutors should not be allowed to call because he said Mr. Weinstein had assaulted their women, but that his allegations were not the basis of any allegations.
Mr Weinstein pleaded not guilty to the new charges, and his lawyer insisted that his interaction with the women was agreed. He was convicted in California and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He is attracting this case.
Mr. Weinstein faces years of legal trouble after the allegations against him sparked a global #MeToo movement. The people behind “Pule Novels” and “Shakespeare in Shakespeare’s Love” are known for making Hollywood stars’ careers. According to dozens of women who stood up, he also exerted his power to harass and sexually assault women, many of whom are young and attempted to achieve that in the industry.
Prosecutors believe Mr Weinstein used his influence to exert “huge control” and sexual assault, not only Ms. Sokora, but also aspiring actress Jessica Mann, who said Mr Weinstein attacked her in 2013, with Miriam Haley and former television assistant Miriam Haley attacking her in 2006.
Like Ms. Hayley, Ms. Sokora met Mr. Weinstein while searching for a job in New York and thought the producer could open the door.
She said that in the spring of 2006, before Ms. Sokora’s 20th birthday, Mr. Weinstein joined her and her sister at lunch time. He just helped her play an extra role in the movie Nanny Diary, which she thought might mean “mode change” by Mr. Weinstein. She said she thought maybe he did see her potential. If Mr. Weinstein believed her, her mother and sister would probably take her seriously as she watched her performance wishes, she told the jury.
She said that after about half an hour of conversation, Mr. Weinstein asked Ms. Sokora to accompany him to the hotel room so she could read the script. She said once they entered the room, he pushed her until she fell backwards on the bed. When Mr. Weinstein’s weight nailed her, she told the juror that she couldn’t move. She said he took off his boots, ripped off her stockings, and took off her underwear.
“My soul was taken away from me,” she told the jury.
She said Mr. Weinstein ignored her pause plea and pushed his mouth into his vagina. She said Mr. Weinstein seemed to be masturbating.
Ms. Sokora stopped and said, “You know? It’s not difficult.”
Ms. Sokora testified that she left the hotel room and went back to meet her sister, who did not tell the attack.
“I never shared it with anyone,” she said. “I accuse myself of what happened – I was the stupidest to put myself in this situation.”
Ms. Sokola’s sister, Ewa Sokola, testified Wednesday that her sister returned after half an hour and was “exercising nervous”.
Later, Kaja Sokola testified that she received a box of movies from Mr. Weinstein and a birthday card with the words “Happy birthday, Happy birthday to the genuine leather people”.
Caneri has Mr. Weinstein’s notes saying he has sent the gift to “improve your film knowledge and help you become a movie lover.”
Ms. Sokora said that in June, she saw Mr. Weinstein at the event and took a photo with him. When prosecutor Shannon Lucey asked if she had said anything to him about what happened in the hotel room, she said she didn’t.
“I’m 39 now, and I know what I’m going to do now,” she said. “At that time, I was 19.”
Ms. Sokora testified that she communicated with Mr. Weinstein over the next few years, sometimes trying to find a job. She said she contacted the attorney when news broke out about the widespread allegations against him.
In 2019, Ms. Sokora sued Mr. Weinstein and two studios under the Child Fights Act, a New York law that opened a year-long window to allow victims of sexual abuse of any age to take legal action, no matter how long ago an incident occurred. She said the lawsuit settled for $3 million.
She also received about $475,000 from a settlement fund established by Weinstein’s bankruptcy.
She said she decided to testify against Mr. Weinstein after the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office contacted her last year.
“When I was a kid myself, I never really looked at it the right way,” Ms. Sokora said, “When she had a son, her perspective changed.
“I want to show him strength, strength and resilience,” she said.
Susan C. Beachy Contributed to the research.
