entertainment
“Fast & Furious” star Vin Diesel is being accused of sexual battery by a former assistant.
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Thursday and obtained by USA TODAY, Asta Jonasson alleges that the actor sexually assaulted her the fall of 2010 during the filming of “Fast Five” in Atlanta.
According to the lawsuit, Jonasson was hired by the actor’s production company One Race to work for him in various capacities, including organizing and accompanying Diesel to parties and ensuring she was nearby in photos if the actor attended events without his longtime girlfriend.
A lawyer from Greenberg Gross, the firm representing Jonasson, said in a statement: “We are proud to represent Ms. Jonasson and hold accountable Vin Diesel and those who allowed and covered up his sexual assault. The law exists to protect those who have been wronged, no matter how powerful or famous the defendant is. Sexual harassment in the workplace will never stop if powerful men are protected from accountability.”
Bryan Freedman, a Los Angeles-based lawyer representing Vin Diesel, said in a statement that Diesel “categorically denies this claim in its entirety.”
“This is the first he has ever heard about this more than 13-year-old claim made by a purportedly 9-day employee,” Freedman said in the statement. “There is clear evidence which completely refutes these outlandish allegations.”
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The allegations state that after a late night in September 2010, Jonasson was asked to wait for Diesel, 56, in his suite at the St. Regis hotel while he entertained hostesses from a club. When the women left, Diesel grabbed Jonasson’s wrists and pulled her onto the bed, according to the lawsuit.
She escaped and asked Diesel to leave, but he allegedly began to grope her breasts, kiss her chest and run his hands along her waist and upper legs, including her inner thighs.
Jonasson was afraid to “forcibly refuse her superior” for her personal safety and job security, but after Diesel moved to pull down her underwear, Jonasson screamed and ran down a hallway.
According to the lawsuit, Diesel pinned her to the wall and placed her hand on his genitals. He masturbated, while “terrified, Ms. Jonasson closed her eyes, trying to dissociate from the sexual assault and avoid angering him,” according to the suit.
Hours later, Diesel’s sister and president of One Race Samantha Vincent called Jonasson to fire her after fewer than two weeks on the job, the suit says.
Though Jonasson signed a nondisclosure agreement when she accepted the position, she was able to file the claims because of the Speak Out Act, which prevents the enforcement of nondisclosure agreements in instances of sexual assault and assault and harassment, and California’s AB2777, which temporarily waives statutes of limitations for sexual abuse allegations occurring in 2009 or later.
Jonasson also says in the suit that the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements empowered her to “reclaim her agency and justice for the suffering she endured at the hands of Vin Diesel and One Race.”
In addition to his lead role in the “Fast & Furious” franchise, Diesel is also known for his work in “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Riddick.”
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