Film producer Fabrizio Lombardo,
former head of Miramax Italia, on Thursday denied actress and
director Asia Argento's account of her alleged 1997 rape by
Harvey Weinstein and said he was ready to sue Argento and anyone
publishing "false and above all unverified news and statements".
In a New Yorker report out Tuesday, Argento accused Hollywood
producer Weinstein, fallen from grace amid a swirl of harassment
and sex-attack reports he denies, of raping her at a Miramax
party in France in 1997, when she was 21.
Contacted over the phone by ANSA, Argento said: "It's all
true, everything the New Yorker wrote. Now leave me in peace".
Argento was among three women who told the New Yorker
Weinstein raped them.
Lucia Evans, a former aspiring actor, and one unnamed women
also accused Weinstein of forcing them to engage in sex or sex
acts, in the piece authored by Ronan Farrow.
The son of actress Mia Farrow, Ronan Farrow previously helped
reignite his sister Dylan's accusations that their father, Woody
Allen, groomed and sexually assaulted her as a child, an
allegation Allen denies.
Four other women told the magazine that Weinstein touched
them without their consent in a way "that could be classified as
an assault".
Others including actors Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette
alleged sexual harassment on the part of the Hollywood mogul.
Farrow also revealed audio from 2015 New York Police
Department sting operation in which Weinstein allegedly admits
to groping Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, a model who reported his
behavior, and said he was "used to" behaving that way.
Weinstein, 65, was sacked by his Weinstein Company earlier
this week after the New York Times reported a history of alleged
sexual harassment over the decades.
Nearly a dozen women told the NYT he had molested them.
On Tuesday Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow told the NYT
Weinstein molested them when they were young actresses.
George Clooney on Tuesday called his alleged behaviour
"indefensible".
Weinstein's wife said she was leaving him.
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