Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / BONUS Episode: Actress who accused film mogul of sex is herself accused of sex abuse of teen

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BONUS Episode: Actress who accused film mogul of sex is herself accused of sex abuse of teen · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You know the films Shakespeare
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: and Loved good Will, Hunting, Silver Linings, playbook The Man
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Behind Them cover legendary Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Eight women,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: including actress Actually Judd, came forward to accuse Weinstein sexual misconduct.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: The Times uncovered sexual harassment allegations that span almost three decades.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Very coming now and one minute as you want to leave,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: when the guy comes to my mind, my grace, I'm sorry,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Just come on. I'm used to them, You're used to that.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: He just is very dominant, persuasive, does not back down
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: if you say no. Heusually touching me with me and
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: he's just relax and I'm telling him to stop, and
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: you'd raise his voice. But at the same time he
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: kept reassuring me that everything's going to be okay. One
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: of the most powerful men in Hollywood brought down by
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: a fleet of women claiming the casting couch is no joke.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, it amounts to nothing more
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: than rape. Of course, I'm talking about Harvey Weinstein. But
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: in a sudden and bizarre turn, a real twist nobody
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: saw coming. Is the case against Harvey Weinstein collapsing from
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the inside like a house of cards. I mean, see, Grace,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: this is crime stories. Thank you for being with us.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about the chief accuser of Harvey Weinstein, Asia Argento,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: now accused of sex assault on a teen boy herself.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: And it's not just an accusation. There are legal documents,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: bona fide, legal documents where she allegedly pays off the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: boy after first meeting the boy when he played her
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: son aged seven. Well, I can tell you who's popping
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: open the champagne right now and dancing in the halls,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Harvey Weinstein and his his horde of attorneys. But listen
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: to this. I'm coming right out. What do we have
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: to do. I'm gonna take a shower. You sit there
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: and have a dream community d and I stay on
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the bar. You must come here now. Please, I'm not
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: doing anything. I'm sorry. I don't yesterday it was a
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: kind of aggressive for I need to know a person.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Do everything. Please, I swear I won't just sit with me.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Don't embarrass me in the hotel here all the time.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Polase sit there, please do one minute. Please. I don't
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: want to do something. I don't want to since to me.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I want to go downstairs. I'm not going to do anything.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: You'll never see me again after this. If you know,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: if you embarrassed me in this hotel, I'm not embarrassing you.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: It's just that I don't I don't feel comfortable. I mean,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: you don't have a play with me before. Please, I'm
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: not gonna do anything. I swear my children. Please come
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: in on everything. I'm a famous guy. You're being very
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable as coming now and one minute and if you
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: want to leave when the guy comes with my touch
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: my brace, please, I'm sorry. Just come on. I'm used
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: to that. Are You're used to that, you know, but
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: I'm not used to that again. You're a minute? Please, No,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: I don't want to do saw you embarrow call me again.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, right, I want to do anything, I know,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: but I mean I will never do another thing to
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: you five minutes. Don't win your friendship with me for
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: five minutes? Is it? I know? But it's screw like
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: so much. You are hearing movie mogul Harvey Weinstein begging
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: a twenty two year old model to watch him take
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: a shower. Okay, let me let that sink in just
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: a moment. That's Ambra Guitarras she told police she was
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: invited to meet Weinstein at his office at the Tribeca
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Film Center in Manhattan, that he not only touched her
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: inappropriately that's called molestation. He put his hand upper skirt.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: When she goes to police, NYPD wired her for this
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: follow up meeting with Weinstein at a hotel a few
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: blocks away. Okay, should I believe him or my lion ears?
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Because I know what I just heard. Troy Slayton, l
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: a defense attorney. I don't care what business monkey business
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: as Argento is up to, but that audience recording is
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: not lying. Troy Slayton, Now, how are you gonna spin that?
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: It all will come down to credibility? Nancy? And it
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: seems like Asia Argento uh was at the height of
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: chutzpah to be accusing Harvey Weinstein when she herself excuse me,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: height of chutzpah? Uh? Question is that a legal defense?
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Did they teach you that out in your California law school?
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Because that's not a defense reality check height of chutzpah? Okay,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: number one, I don't think you pronounced it correctly, But
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: number two, that's not a defense. As I've told many
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: a jury, even a hooker could be raped. I so
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: she did a bad thing, and yes, frankly she should
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: have probably gone to jail. She should have gone to
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: jail for it. There's no probably in that sentence. But
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: that doesn't mean she was a sexual doesn't mean st
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: you know what. That does not mean Weinstein did not
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: assault her band. But it will come down to credibility.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: And with regard to Asia Argento, now it seems that
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: she has lost any with regard to an allegation of
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: sexual assault. And that is when the theory of similar
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: transactions becomes so important. Now, slight and high profile l
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: a defense attorney is going to argue with me about
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: similar transactions. But everybody listening, if you're listening to crime
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: stories right now, you know what similar transactions are. Under
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: our years prudence, our system of law, someone's reputation cannot
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: come in to try and convict him. In fact, if
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: you even try to do it, you're gonna get reversed
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: and you're going to get to try your case over again.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: If that, if you're not charge of prosecutor almost conduct
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: for doing it, and you don't get even a second
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: swing at the ball, don't bring in someone's reputation. However,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: there's a thing called similar transaction actions. Um, I'll give
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: you an example. I had a guy I prosecuted. The
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: red rapist had always enter in to the home through
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: a bedroom window. He would always rape the woman in
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the middle of the knot as she was asleep. He
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: had always scoped her at it, always leave a red
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: rose behind, and he would wear I think it was
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: a red scarf during the assault. All right, fingerprint crime.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: So to prove one case where the victim could not
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: see him in the dark, I brought in similar transactions
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: of fingerprint crimes that were him based on DNA to
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: prove my case in chief. All right, the same m O,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: the same course of conduct, frame of mind, scheme, motive,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: the whole thing. That is why to prove Asia Argento's case,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: now that she has a credibility problem, you're gonna need
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: all these other women, Let's start at the beginning. Alexis
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: terres Chuck, journalist, reporter, Radar online dot com. In a nutshell,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: what happened with Asia Argento? Why is Harvey Wine staying
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: doing a little jig right now? So she has it
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: has become public that she paid a three hundred and
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: eighty thousand dollars settlement to a young boy who she
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: assaulted when he was seventeen. And the thing is a
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: lot of the descriptions about this that they had. They
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: had sex in a hotel room at the Ritz Carlton
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: and Marina del Rey, very fancy hotel in May. He
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: was seventeen years old. The age of consent in California
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: is eighteen, so this was he could not consent to this.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: He had come to this hotel, she gave him alcohol,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: she performed oral sex on him, and then they had
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: sex together. Those are the descriptions that are written. So
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: this if you want, and I'm not a lawyer, but
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you that this is described to me. This
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: is rape. She raped him in a hotel room. He
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: had brought a family member air. She sent that family
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: member away. This wasn't the first time they met, and
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: she had been tweeting all day about how excited she
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: was to see him because she has known him since
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: he was seven years old, and he was on he
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: was in her movie The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: so they've known each other. She has often been seen
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: on social media writing back and forth with him. She
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: called him her son, he called saying calling herself his mom.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: So they've had a ten year relationship and then this
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: concluded with him in her hotel room all of these
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: years later, ten years later. So in November, she he
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: his family hired an attorney and they went to her
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: with an intent to sue, telling her they were going
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: to sue her for this assault, and she worked out
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: a settlement where she gave him three hundred and eighty
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars. And the family has said, and the lawyer
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: during these negotiations that ever since this encounter, he was
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: a very six as little young actor and lots and
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: lots of movies over the years. Ever since his encounter,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: it really dramatically affected him and that he no longer
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: was the same boy that he was before, and he
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: wasn't looking movie roles and it had really drastically changed
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: him after the attempt. How old are you seven? How
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: do you? I know the songs one through seventy? How
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: many do you know? I A lot of songs? What
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: you idiot? What songs do you know? Saying? So I
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: am and I justus, I am, and I trust I
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: know what I don't I know him. I want this
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: talk the pleasure, bly, I have won up bit kissus
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: to Okay, that's leaving some people in studio right now chuckling.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: But the significance of the clip we just played for
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: you from the movie The Heart is deceitful above all things.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: That's then seven year old Jimmy Bennett and his co
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: star John Robinson in the film seven year Old Jimmy
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Bennett is shocking John Robinson as he blurts out lyrics
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: of a song that's the same little Boy that we
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: now learn co starred with Asia Argento. What we also know,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: the Italian actress, twenty years older than the boy, kissed
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: the boy, pushed him onto a bed, and performed sex
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: on him. According to legal documents, um then there was
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: a three point five million dollar lawsuit for damages for
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: intentional infliction of emotional distressed wages, assault battery. The significance
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: of all this is that a payoff of three hundred
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: and eighty thousand dollars is confirmed in legal documents. Asia Argento,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: the woman who led the charge on Hollywood huncho Harvey Weinstein,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: is now accused of sex assault on a teen boy
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: that she met when he was just seven years old,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: and he played her son. The Weinstein accuser and me
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: to figurehead. Asia Argento secretly pays off a former child
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: star who accused her of sex assault. Oh She's accused
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: of luring the boy to her California hotel room and
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: there sent away his chaperone, gave him alcohol, showed him
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: love letters before assault on the boy twenty years older
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: than him. The the station this will reek on the
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: case against Harvey Weinstein is more more than deadly with me.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Dr Bethany Marshall l A psychoanalyst, Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: author of Blood Beneath My Feet, Troy Slayton High Profile
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: l A defense lawyer, and Alexis to res Chuck, investigative
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: reporter with Radar Online dot Com. To Troy Slayton, l
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: A defense lawyer. There is some suggestion floating around out
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: there that Harvey Weinstein's camp leaked these documents, these legal
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: documents that have been sealed or kept secret for so long,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: in order to destroy Asia Argento's credibility. I don't know
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: that that's true, but the reality is, even if it
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: is true, leaking those documents are not is that's not
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: a crime. The fact is, if she did this thing,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: she did it, and the state's going to have to
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: deal with it at trial. It's certainly not a crime
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: to release it, especially if it's true, and it's not
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: illegal for anyone to publish it. And this case is
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: definitely starting to be played out well, has been played
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: out in the court of public opinion. And Harvey Weinstein's
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: legal team, if he did release this, that means they're
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: starting to fight back because any juror has been so
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: affected by all of the media coverage that it would
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: be almost impossible for him to get a fair trial.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: So there better be some sort of um response from
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: his defense team. And this is quite canny because it
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: shows that his main accuser has her own prior bad acts.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: To Dr Bethany Marshall l A psychoanalysts, can you make
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: any sense of it? Dr Bethany, Well, this shows me
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: how complicated and nuanced the whole issue of sexual assault
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: sexual molestation is. It's possible to be a victim and
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: to be an abuser. It's possible to be a victim
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: and to be male. It's possible to be assaulted and
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: then to assault. All these things can happen together. You
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: talked about similar transactions. In my field, we talk about
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: psychic equivalents, and what that means is that we're not
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: supposed to see two things as identical that are not.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: That's an a logic flaw. So to say, because she
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: perpetrated a crime potentially or allegedly against this young man
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: means that she could not have been a dor bethany
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: hold on there was a three hundred and eighty thousand
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: dollar payout. Okay, yes, now in my mind, I wouldn't
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: pay out three d eighty thousand dollars unless something hey
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: gone on. Now, there is the outside chance that she
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: didn't want the publicity that would result from a trial. However,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: she and the boy, now twenty two years old, have
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: been out and about since this incident. So it's kind
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: of hard to believe that. I don't know what to
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: believe dot about the documents say, we're saying the same
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: thing I'm saying. It seems to me as if she's
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: a perpetrator, But that doesn't mean that she wasn't also
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: perpetrated upon by Harvey Weinstein. Both can be true, that's all. Yes,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: both can be true. And what I find very disturbing.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Very disturbing as a woman, is that she knew this
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: boy when he was six or seven years old. She
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: was in a maternal role with him, She saw him
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: throughout all of his develop developmental years, and then cross
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: the line. I find that very disturbing. For some reason,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Harvey Weinstein was never an a parental role with her,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: So in some ways I see this as creature. This
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: is what we know Asia Argento, a me Too leader
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: who was one of the very first women in the
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: movie business to accuse Hollywood hauncho Harvey Weinstein of sex
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: assault her boyfriend, as we all know, the TV star
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Anthony Bourdaine, and the months that followed her accusations against Weinstein.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Last October, following that, Asia Argento arranged to pay three
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: hundred and eighty thousand dollars to her own accuser, a
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: boy actor a musician, who said she sex assaulted him
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: in a California hotel room when he was just two
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: months past seventeen. She thirty seven. There's no doubt about it.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: The age of consent in California is eighteen. All this
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: according to The New York Times. So after she comes
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: out attacking Weinstein, this occurs, the payoff occurs. According to
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: legal documents, how will that affect the case against Weinstein?
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Women lining up with stories that apparently have been corroborated
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: about rape, sex assault, sexual pressure in order to get
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: a job or keep a job. Take a listen to this.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Take us to the moment that you knew you were
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: in trouble with him. Um. Well, I had met him
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: in New York previously, um, and we had been in
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: touch about an audition for a Quentin Tarantino film and
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: I had submitted it to l A and then I
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: ran back into him later and that's when I met
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: with him at the Peninsula when I had moved to
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: the West Coast, So I really didn't know anything about
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the Peninsula, like if he was staying there. I thought
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: we were meeting at the bar, which we did, and
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: then he told me, Okay, we're going to my room
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: now after a few minutes of conversation about movie roles.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: So then we go up to the suite and I
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: realized he kind of like has a place there, and
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: he offers me champagne. And it was very similar to
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: her story that he just is very dominant, persuasive, does
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: not back down if you say no, and kind of
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: just forced me into doing something I didn't want to do.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, but you know,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: some some people here forced oral sex and they think
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: how right? Like how it did he hold you down?
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Could you just help us understand that? I feel like
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: it was a coercive thing. Um, just that he wouldn't
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: let it up, that he that it was just going
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: to happen no matter how hard I refused, And did
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: you said no? How did it end? Did you? How
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: did you leave your the hotel room? Um? It just
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: that I left after pretty much he was done with
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: whatever he intended to do, so I just left after.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: I don't know how to put it. Get Then I
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: went to Cannes in May two thousand and fourteen, and
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: whilst I was there, Harvey Weinstein approached me in the
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: majestics in the lobby. It was quite forceful in a
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: sense of telling me to relax, and I think then
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I started to like get a little bit confused. He
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: took hold of me and pretty much forced me to
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: walk with him to the bathroom where he stood me
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: in front of the mirror and he stood behind me
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: and I was like, what are you doing, and like
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: he's like watching me, robbing me, and he's like just
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: relax and I'm telling him to stop, and you would
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: raise his voice when at the same time he kept
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: reassuring me that everything's going to be okay. You're hearing
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: sound of actress Katian Noble describing weinstein sex assault on
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: her in a hotel room in France joining me. Alexis
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: tres Cho Raiter online dot com, Troy Slayton L A
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: defense lawyer, Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics at Jacksonville
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: State University and author of Blood Beneath My Feet, and
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Dr Bethany Marshall L A psychoanalyst to Alexis to Rez Schuck,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: investigative reporter Radar online dot com. Alexis I, this is
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: a a very very bad turn of events for the prosecution.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Argento had been one of its lead witnesses, very bold,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: being very brave and coming out against Weinstein. Uh. The
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Times has repeatedly tried to get responses from our Genta
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: and her rips. They're laying low right now. In the
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: last hours, it has come out that ar Gento apparently
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: paid off eighteen boy after a sex assault on him
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: in a California hotel room. Alexis Tourez Chuck, Let's start
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: at the beginning. What do we know about how this occurred?
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: When did it come out? Why did it come out?
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's a coincidence in criminal law. Alexis
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: at the time when the States preparing trial against Harvey
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Weinstein and now this comes out. So it just came
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: out over the weekend. What it happened. It took place
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: in May when she lured this boy to the Ritz
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Carlton and Marina del Rey at a waterfront high end hotel.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: This is where the alleged assault happened. They did not
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: come forward against her until seen. So this is after
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: the Harvey Weinstein news has broken. They his attorney came
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: to Asia and said, we are going to suit you
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: for three point five million dollars for this alleged assault.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: She worked out a deal. Now it is ben said that.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: So Anthony Bourdain was her boyfriend at the time, very
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: involved and very vocal against Harvey Weinstein in the entire situation.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: He helped her negotiate this deal. He advised her through
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: all of this. She ended up paying this Boy three
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: hundred and eighty thousand dollars in a settlement. The thing
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: was the one thing she did not do is and
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: it's really becoming no longer enforceable in California. She did
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: not require a nondisclosure agreement. She didn't ask him not
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to say anything about the situation at all. So, now
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: that Harvey Weinstein is about to go to trial, it
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: has come out that this happened, this has become public.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Nobody has spoken. Jimmy's attorney has said that he will
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: say something in the next few days. He said, but
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: this is he said. He understands in our twenty four
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: hour news cycle that we would like a comment immediately,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: but he needs a days to process what he's going
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: to say about something that he says. He claims he
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: did not expect to become a public In October, a
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: month before Bennett sends the demand for money from Argento,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: The New Yorker published an article by Running Pharaoh that
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: included Argento among thirteen women that say Weinstein harassed and
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: or raped them. Um the timing of everything of her
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: speaking out against Weinstein, and then right after that, this
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: demand for money from the Boy. Now twenty two years
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: old occurs, the threatened lawsuit for three point five million dollars,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the payoff of three hundred and eighty thousand dollars, and
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: now mysteriously the whole thing is made public. The boy
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Bennett was a child actor and he wowed Harrison Ford
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: and Bruce Willis. They gave him the nickname Jimmy two
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: takes because he hardly ever flubbed his lines. He goes
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: from being a child actor fast forward to now and
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: today to Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert. I don't see
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: how forensics plays a role in this, it's really all
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: he says. She say, but because of the settlement with
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Argento and the boy that lends it credibility that makes
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: it seem real. Yeah, I'd agree with you, Nancy. And listen,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: we take down all the wind addressing, the Hollywood wind
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: addressing and everything, and what we're talking about here are crombs. Okay,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, and you know, let's
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: just say that we had two people in the prison yard.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: They're both, you know, convicted murderers, and one of the
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: murders comes forward and kills another murderer. It's still a
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: murder and you know, uh, You've got these people that
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: are perpetrating these crimes, male and female, that are out there.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: And you know, people want to talk about power differentials
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: and and all these sorts of things that go on.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, these people are taking
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: advantage of people that have less power than they do
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: and they're committing crimes, heinous crimes. If cause these people
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: where they're scarred forever and ever, you know, to troice
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: lat and high profile l a defense attorney, I am
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: not denying that Argento did this thing and had a
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: sex attack on a boy, all right, not denying it
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: when you put witnesses on the stand, that you put
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: them up their warts at all. Okay, As I said earlier,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: I've had to tell many a jury, even a hooker
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: can't get raped. It's happened, It's happened many, many times,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: and it will happen again. Just because she's a hooker
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: does not mean she cannot be attacked. And that is
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: a rate that needs to be prosecuted and the put
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: in jail. Bam, say a thing applies here with Argento,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: So let me just put it out there. Argento still
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: needs to be a witness. A chief witness at trial,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: and the state needs to tell the jury upfront about
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the claims against Argento. They should not let one bad
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: apple ruin the case against Weinstein. Let me talk to
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: you about strategy, Troy Slayton. Now we're uh, it doesn't
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: matter how these documents were leaked. But I'm curious. I'm curious, Troy,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: because these documents about the lawsuit, the three point five
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: million dollar lawsuit that was threatened, the three and eighty
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: thousand dollar payoff by Asian Argento to this boy, and
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: a selfie of Argento and the boy lying in bed
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: together reportedly were sent to The New York Times by
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: encrypted mail encrypted email by an unidentified party. Now, who
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: has the sense and the knowledge to pull off something
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: like that to the New York Times, Troy Slayton, Come on,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: if it's not Weinstein, and there's nothing wrong with sharing it.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: There was no confidentiality agreement. They can take out a
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: full page add if they want to, putting aside. But
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: who sent it to the New York Times? That's what
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: I'm asking you. Who has any motive? Who has who
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: would benefit at all from making these documents public other
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: than the Weinstein camp. Well, I think I don't care
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: who did it. If it's the truth, so be it.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: But I'm curious sort of public opinion benefits. And I'm
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: baffled by the incompetence of Asia Argento's lawyers to not
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: include a a non disclosure agreement, a non disparagement agreement
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: in a three hundred and forty dollar payout. That seems
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: like mal practice to me. But aside from that, of course, Uh,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Harvey Weinstein's legal team would have motivation to get this
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: out because they're telling you something, Troy Slaight and hold
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: on hold to horses. You know what, the state's got
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: a tiger by the tail. Let me just say a
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: fox by the tail. Because this Harvey Weinstein bunch, the lawyers,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: the whole kit and kaboodle, are wiley. They're clever, they're smart,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: they're sneaky. Hey everything you want a defense lawyer, right, Troy,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: no offense, But they better watch out. They think they've
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: got a great case going into trial with all these
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: women who were very likely all telling the truth. Uh,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: it ain't over yet. Weinstein can walk and this is
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: proof I was raped by Harvey Weinstein. You can I
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: was twenty one years old. This festival was his hunting ground,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: and even tonight sitting among you, there are those who
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: still have to be held accountable for their conduct against women.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: You know who you are. Ouch. All of that is true.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that's Asia Argento at a con speech stating
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Harvey Weinstein raped her. Alan que that up again for me.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: I want to hear that again because in the last
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: hours of bizarre twist in the rape cases against Hollywood
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: mogul Harvey Weinstein, when a boy comes forward, a then
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: boy who met Argento at age seven, says she sex
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: assaulted him. Uh, listen to this. I was raped by
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Harvey Weinstein, you can I was twenty one years old.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: This festival was his hunting ground, and even tonight sitting
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: among you, there are those who still have to be
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: held accountable for their conduct against women. You know who
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: you are. Okay. Has anybody ever heard the phrase the
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: pots calling the kettle black? Anybody ever heard that? In
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: other words, Dr Bethany Marshall, I'm sure there is a
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: very confusing and highbrow term for pot calling the kettle black.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: Dr Bethany Marshall ellis psycho analyst. I mean there, you
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: got Asia arg Into fiery speech at Khan, and I'm
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: sure everything she said was true where sex attackers must
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: be held accountable, but that would include her too, that
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: would include her, And the term I would use his
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: lack of integration. She's not integrating into that. I knew
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: you'd have a term for Bethany, lack of integration. David,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: you're showing a lack of integration because lack of integration.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: You just hit your sister, and now you're telling me
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: that you're my favorite child and you're such a good kid.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: That's not integrating what you did the minute before. And
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: the same thing with her. She's not integrating her past
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: behaviors into that speech. And sadly, her offending style with
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: this young boy is similar to Harvey's against her. You know,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: there was a power differential, there's an age differential, Nancy.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: She offered him a role in a film and tweeted
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: about it after she had intercourse with him. So there
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: was a whit whit whit wha white, white, white what
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: she offered him? What did you She offered him a
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: role in one of her upcoming films after she accosted him,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: and she tweeted about it, tweeted about what Graham, She
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: said that, um, Bennett is going I forget the exact words,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: but something to the effect of Bennett is going to
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: have a role in my new film. So there's his
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: award reward for having been a victim. Man talk about
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: casting couch role reversal. Alexis Terrez Chuck. What First of all, alexis,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: what is she talking about? What? What? What tweet? Remember
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: she our Gento was twenty one when she was raped.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: According to her by Weinstein, She's thirty seven when she
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: abused this boy according to these legal documents. What alexis
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: is Dr Bethany Marshall talking about what tweets? So basically,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: this entire day that this alleged assault happened, she Asia
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: was on Instagram and Twitter building up to the event, saying,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: I am so excited. I cannot wait to see Jimmy Bennett.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: She puts his Twitter tag on there, and then she said,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna be smoking so many cigarettes afterwards. Gross. Then
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: she says they she gives him the alcohol. Okay, hold
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: hold on just a moment, White White, What could you
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: repeat that for me? I need to hear it again
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: to let it sink in. What she says I'm going
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: to be smoking so many cigarettes afterwards, after tweeting this photo,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: after tweeting that she was anticipating seeing him, and then
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: she says, after I see him, I'm going to be
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: smoking so many cigarettes. Okay, I think I must have
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: my head on backwards, which I've been accused of a
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: lot worse. Alexas, please tell me that again, because this
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: is very important to me. Enter the case against Weinstein.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: Start at the beginning one more time. Sorry, go ahead.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: So before as she's as the day is progressing and
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: she's going to see Jimmy at the hotel, she tweets
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: that she's going to see him. She's very excited about it,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: and she's going to have so many going to be
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: smoking so many cigarettes after she sees him, which is
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: a reference to you know, you smoke a cigarette after
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: having sex because you're so satisfy. The cigarette just makes
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: it even better. Um, Alexis, what year was it that
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: they alleged hotel rape encounter occurred with her and the boy?
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: Two thousand? That's within the statute of limitations. I'm I
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: have to look at California law again, but I'm pretty
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: sure it's seven years and the police are looking into it.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: You're exactly right. They made an announcement, they said, nobody
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: this young man did not file a police report. We
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: had never heard of this, but since we've heard of
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: it and it happened in our jurisdiction, our police are
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: investigating this because it is a crime and we want
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: to make sure that crime victims are protected, so that
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: this has now become a criminal investigator just Scott Morgan,
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: forensics expert. They have to investigate it. They have to.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: And with this tweet that she herself put out there,
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have so many cigarettes after meeting with Jimmy.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: He is a teen boy in the eyes of the
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: law at that time, and that corroborates what he said
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: happen along with the three and eighty thousand dollars settlement.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: And listen to this um for the boy. Uh he
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: sees our gento putting herself out there as a sex
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: attack victim. His lawyer says that was just too much
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: for him to take and it dredged up memories of
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: his own attack at her at her hands, quote the lawyer.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: His feelings about that day were brought to the forefront
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: recently when Argento took the spotlight as one of the
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: many victims of Harvey Weinstein. Holy Molly, it's all laid
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: out in documents. Joe Scott, what way in hey? Listen?
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: Like I said earlier, Nancy, it's a crime, that's you know,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: And this is this is the rub for us. You know,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: live out here in what would be termed as fly
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: over country. If this were us, and you know good
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: and well what I'm talking about, if this were us,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: just Joe six back, the rules would be completely different.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: But yet these people are allowed to get away with
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: victimizing people over and over and over and over again.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: And that's why many of us just hold them in
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: total contempt. You know that this child and look she
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: met this child? When when did we say she met seven?
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: All of a sudden, All of a sudden, this thing
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: just bubbles up when he's seventeen years old. I'm calling BS,
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: I'm calling VS because I think that she was probably
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: creating to sing in her mind way before this. Now
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: there is a very strong possibility Weinstein accuser Aser Argento
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: is going to be fighting criminal charges of her own,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: charges of sex attack on a minor. Alan cue that
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: up again for me. I want to hear that again.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: I was raped by Harvey Weinstein. You can yeah. I
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: was twenty one years old. This festival was his hunting ground,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: and even tonight, sitting among you, there are those who
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: still have to be held accountable for their conduct against women.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: You know who you are. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: goodbye friend,