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Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Back issues
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Saudi Prince Sued in Rape Case

MANHATTAN (CN) - Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd should pay $150 million for hiring a man who drugged, raped and sodomized two young women near his suite at the Plaza Hotel, a victim of the attack says in a federal complaint.

The perpetrator, defendant Mustapha Ouanes, was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison for rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse, in Manhattan Criminal Court.

Saudi Oger Ltd., a global corporation, hired Ouanes for its VIP unit to modify the climate control system in the prince's suite in The Plaza Hotel, the complaint states.

The Plaza is not a party to the lawsuit.

"Jane Doe," one of the victims, filed civil claims against Ouanes, His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd Al-Saud, and Saudi Oger Ltd.

The 30-page complaint details her account of the night of the attack.

On Jan. 26, 2010, Doe says, she finished the late shift at an East Village hookah bar where she worked, Habibi Lounge, and went bar-hopping with a friend, a 25-year-old New York University student.

She says she declined Ouanes' offer of a drink at a Mediterranean restaurant called Veranda. But she says she accepted a round of champagne he bought for her group at the next stop, Midtown's Falucka Lounge.

"He informed her that he was born in Algeria and worked for a Saudi Arabian prince," the complaint states. "Plaintiff thought of him as a harmless old man."

After 4:30 a.m., she says, Ouanes persuaded her and her friend to have breakfast at his suite at the Plaza Hotel, where he said he would order room service.

"Once they were seated at a table in the room and had ordered breakfast, defendant Mustafa Ouanes told plaintiff and Mary Doe that he had to go meet with the Prince," the complaint states.

She says he returned to the room a few minutes later with "three Arab men, one of whom was clad in traditional Saudi garb," who were "purportedly there to join them for breakfast."

According to the complaint, one of them was Prince bin Fahd's butler, who is not accused of wrongdoing.

"During breakfast, defendant Mustapha Ouanes boasted to plaintiff and her friend: 'We have a yacht, we have planes, and we work with the son of a king,'" the complaint states.

Then, she claims, she noticed that the mimosas that they poured "looked strange."

She said, "This orange juice looks funny," according to the complaint.

At that point, she says, she lost consciousness and awakened to find her bra removed, tights and underpants pulled down to her ankles and Ouanes on top of her, raping her.

She says that "several other employees" of the prince joined in the attack against her and her friend, as they slipped in and out of consciousness.

When they woke up, "plaintiff Jane Doe broke a glass by the bed and held it up as a weapon. At the same time, Mary Doe struggled to dial 911 on the Plaza Hotel telephone. Defendant Mustapha Ouanes stared at the girls coldly, and said nonchalantly: 'Go ahead, call the police. Do whatever you want,'" according to the complaint.

Police arrived later that morning and arrested Ouanes.

The women were taken to the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital, where rape kits corroborated Jane Doe's claims.

She says she quit her job, moved in with her parents, became suicidal, sought psychiatric treatment and continues to take medication to cope with the attacks.

Prince Bin Fahd and Saudi Oger "knew or should have known" of Ouanes' "predisposition to abusing women, of his violent propensities and of his status as a sexual predator, yet did nothing to stop it," the complaint states.

She seeks $150 million for negligent hiring, negligent supervision and retention, false imprisonment, assault and battery and respondeat superior.

Doe is represented by Martha McBrayer, with Morelli Alters & Ratner.

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