Vin Diesel Accused of Sexual Battery In New Lawsuit From Former Assistant

 

A lawsuit filed on Thursday by a former assistant to Vin Diesel accused the actor of sexual battery in the fall of 2010.

According to Vanity Fair, the lawsuit states that plaintiff Asta Jonasson was hired back in 2010 to work for the actor in Atlanta, where she organized parties and accompanied him to events. At the time, she was a recent film school graduate.

However, Jonasson claims that in September 2010, while waiting in Diesel’s suit at the St. Regis Hotel, the actor returned with a group of women from a club. After they had departed, the lawsuit claims that Diesel allegedly grabbed Jonasson’s wrists and pulled her onto his bed despite multiple pleas for him to stop.

Per Vanity Fair:

The lawsuit says, he again approached Jonasson and began to grope her breasts and kiss her chest, despite her pleas to stop. “Ms. Jonasson was afraid to more forcibly refuse her supervisor, knowing that getting him out of that room was both crucial to her personal safety and job security,” the suit continues. “But this hope died when Vin Diesel dropped to his knees, pushed Ms. Jonasson’s dress up toward her waist, and molested her body, running his hands over Ms. Jonasson’s upper legs, including her inner thighs.”

According to the lawsuit, once Diesel moved to pull down her underwear, Jonasson screamed and ran down the hallway toward the bathroom, where Diesel pinned her to the wall, placing her hand on his erect penis, even as she verbally refused. He masturbated, the suit alleges, while “terrified, Ms. Jonasson closed her eyes, trying to dissociate from the sexual assault and avoid angering him.”

According to the lawsuit, Jonasson was terminated from her job by Diesel’s sister, Samantha Vincent, within hours of the incident.

“It was clear to her that she was being fired because she was no longer useful—Vin Diesel had used her to fulfill his sexual desires and she had resisted his sexual assaults,” the lawsuit states, adding that Jonasson’s esteem was destroyed following the encounter and subsequent firing. The lawsuit claims Jonasson was left questioning “whether a successful career would require her to trade her body for advancement.”

The lawsuit also accuses Diesel and his production of discrimination, inflicting emotional distress, creating a hostile work environment, wrongful termination, and retaliation.

According to TMZ, Jonasson felt empowered to come forward with her allegations partly due to California’s Speak Out Act which allows for sexual assault victims to file claims for incidents going back to 2009.

Watch the clip above via TMZ Live.

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