Weinstein’s attorneys claim new accuser used disgraced film producer to get ‘foot in the door’

MANHATTAN (CN) — Kaja Sokola told a Manhattan jury earlier this week that she was just 16 years old when Harvey Weinstein molested her in his apartment in 2002.

Sokola testified that it was “the most horrifying thing I have ever experienced until that time.” Less than four years later, Sokola said Weinstein assaulted her again by forcibly performing oral sex on her at a New York City hotel — an incident for which Weinstein is now criminally charged.

The lone new accuser in Weinstein’s rape retrial, Sokola is testifying about her experience with the disgraced film mogul for the very first time. On Friday, Weinstein’s attorneys got their chance to poke holes in her story, driving the Polish ex-model to tears in their attempt to do so.

Through a grueling cross-examination that ran the entire trial day, defense lawyer Michael Cibella tried to paint Sokola as a wannabe actress who tried to use Weinstein to get ahead in Hollywood.

“You believed that if you had consensual sex with Mr. Weinstein … that you could get your foot in the door and become a movie star?” Cibella asked.

“No, that’s not what happened,” Sokola replied. “I never had a consensual sexual relationship with Mr. Weinstein.”

Cibella kept prodding, at one point pressing Sokola about her appearing at the premiere for the 2022 film “She Said,” a historical drama about the New York Times reporters who broke the story of Weinstein’s widespread accusations of sexual abuse.

Cibella pulled up a photograph of Sokola posing at the event, and asked her if she had finally gotten her “moment on the red carpet” after speaking out against Weinstein. Sokola wasn’t permitted to answer — prosecutors successfully objected.

When Cibella wasn’t targeting Sokola’s acting career, he was digging into her marriage in Poland, which Sokola admitted was “hell on earth.” Sokola claimed her ex-husband was physically abusive toward her and their son, a situation that Cibella suggested Sokola fabricated sexual assault claims against Weinstein to escape.

Sokola was one of dozens of Weinstein’s accusers to be paid out via a multimillion settlement fund from Weinstein’s production studio. Her personal cut was $475,000, with a third of that cash going to her attorneys, she testified.

Through his questioning, Cibella insinuated that Sokola only came forward with her accusations against Weinstein to get her payout and escape her abusive relationship.

“That is not correct,” Sokola said Friday. “I was working two jobs and I was earning more than he was at the time.

Weinstein is charged with one count of committing a criminal sexual act on Sokola, stemming from her claim that he forcibly performed oral sex on her at a Manhattan hotel in 2006. Weinstein’s attorneys have argued that Sokola and other accusers had sex with Weinstein consensually in an attempt to better their odds at Hollywood success.

Sokola pushed back on that Friday, however, claiming that she only ever wanted Weinstein to be “honest with me” about her potential in the film industry.

“I didn’t want money, I didn’t want any shortcuts from Mr. Weinstein,” she testified. “I did not want favors. It was not a transactional relationship.”

Sokola said the experience with the former movie producer “broke my dreams, and he broke my self-esteem and my trust.”

Weinstein at one point got Sokola an extra role in the 2007 comedy “The Nanny Diaries,” but she said that her scene eventually got cut from the movie’s final release. She admitted it was disappointing, and that she believed Weinstein never lived up to his promises to help her with her acting career.

“Today, Kaja Sokola stood strong in the face of an aggressive cross-examination,” Sokola’s attorney Lindsay Goldbrum said in a statement Friday. “Straight out of the victim-blamers playbook, Weinstein’s team mistakenly thought they could break her resolve. But Kaja was unwavering. Despite facing relentless and invasive questioning about the most painful and personal aspects of her life, including those unrelated to the charged incident, she remained composed and resolute. Her courage and grace in that courtroom was nothing short of remarkable.”

Sokola is the second of three accusers slated to testify at Weisntein’s rape retrial. Actress Jessica Mann and former TV production assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haley, who testified last week, were also witnesses in Weinstein’s initial 2020 trial for sexual assault.

Weinstein was convicted in that case and sentenced to 23 years in prison. But New York’s highest court tossed the conviction and ordered a new trial in 2024, paving the way for prosecutors to add Sokola’s accusations to the case.

In the retrial, Weinstein faces two charges of committing a criminal sexual act and a third-degree rape charge.

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