Four women accuse Andrew Tate of rape, assault in British court documents
The BBC reported that four women, two of whom worked for Tate's webcam business while the other two were in relationships with him, purport the incidents that involve Tate took place in the towns of Luton and Hitchin between 2013 and 2015.
Some of the allegations reported by the BBC include that Tate had raped and strangled two of the victims, and that he strangled them so often that they developed burst capillary conditions in their eyes, a symptom indicative of asphyxia.
A third victim purported that Tate told her "I'm just debating whether to rape you or not" before raping and strangling her, and another victim alleged that Tate strangled her to the point of unconsciousness while engaged in sexual activity, and then Tate continued that activity despite the fact she had blacked out.
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Three of the plaintiffs had previously reported Tate to the authorities in 2019, but the police did not bring criminal charges. The four plaintiffs now seek damages "arising from the assaults, batteries, and infliction of intentional harm", their civil claim states.
One victim claimed Tate threatened to murder her, while another alleges Tate said he'd kill anyone who spoke to her, and a third claimed that Tate convinced her he had killed other people.
It seems Tate should not be allowed to walk freely in any society. From the perspective of a Christian, he is evil incarnate.
Tate denies the allegations, and in a written defense submitted to the High Court, he called the accusations a "pack of lies" and "gross fabrications," and claims the statute of limitations has passed, and that evidence has since been lost.
A preliminary hearing for the case is set for April 15. Tate also faces both criminal and civil charges in Romania and the United States.
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Filmmaker James Toback ordered to pay nearly $1.7 billion in sex assault lawsuit
NOTE: This article contains sexually explicit language and disturbing content. Read at your own discretion.
A New York jury has ordered writer and director James Toback to pay US$1.68 billion in damages to 40 women who accused him of sexual abuse and other crimes over a span of 35 years, according to lawyers representing the plaintiffs.
Toback, 80, was accused of abusing his power in the film industry to sexually assault women across four decades. Accusations that he engaged in years of sexual abuse surfaced in late 2017 as the #MeToo movement gained attention. They were first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
The decision stems from a lawsuit filed in Manhattan in 2022 after New York state instituted a one-year window for people to file lawsuits over sexual assault claims even if they took place decades ago.
Wednesday’s decision marks one of the largest jury awards since the #MeToo movement began, as well as in New York state history, said lawyer Brad Beckworth, of the law firm Nix Patterson LLP, in an interview.
He said the verdict included $280 million in compensatory damages and $1.4 billion for punitive damages to the plaintiffs. The court has not yet released documentation of the verdict as of Thursday morning.
Beckworth added that the plaintiffs believe such a large verdict will send a message to powerful individuals “who don’t treat women appropriately.” He said that the abuse took place between 1979 and 2014.
“This verdict is about justice,” Beckworth said in a statement. “But more importantly, it’s about taking power back from the abusers — and their and enablers — and returning it to those he tried to control and silence.”
Los Angeles prosecutors said that the statute of limitations had expired in five cases they reviewed in 2018 and declined to bring criminal charges against the Bugsy writer.
The plaintiffs then filed a lawsuit in New York a few days after the state’s Adult Survivors Act went into effect. Their lawyers said they discovered a pattern of Toback attempting to lure young women on the streets of New York into meeting him by falsely promising roles in his films and then subjecting them to sexual acts, threats and psychological coercion.
The women also claimed Toback “falsely imprisoned, sexually abused, assaulted, and/or battered them” before blacklisting them from the entertainment industry.
Toback, who most recently had represented himself, denied numerous times in court documents that he “committed any sexual offense” and that “any sexual encounter or contact between Plaintiffs and Defendant was consensual.”
The disgraced director also argued that New York’s law extending the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases violated his constitutional rights.
Toback did not attend the trial and did not show up for pre-trial hearings, which led to a default judgment against him. He has not released a statement about Wednesday’s hearing.
Over the course of the trial, 20 women testified in person and another 20 women submitted video depositions that were also played to the six-person jury.
Lawyers will have to assess whether Toback has any assets they can pursue in order to pay the plaintiffs the amount awarded. According to IMDb, the director and screenwriter hasn’t worked on any projects since 2017, so it’s unclear what income, if any, he has.
“We’ll try to recover it, but that’s not the only motivating factor,” Ross Leonoudakis, one of plaintiffs’ lawyers, said, according to Variety. “We saw a unique opportunity to help these survivors seek justice.”
Mary Monahan, a lead plaintiff in the case, called the jury-awarded $1.68 billion “validation” for her and the other women.
“For decades, I carried this trauma in silence, and today, a jury believed me. Believed us. That changes everything,” she said in a statement. “This verdict is more than a number — it’s a declaration. We are not disposable. We are not liars. We are not collateral damage in someone else’s power trip. The world knows now what we’ve always known: what he did was real.”
Karen Sklaire Watson, another plaintiff, said the verdict will make New York a safer place for women.
“We’re drawing a line in the sand: Predators cannot hide behind fame, money, or power,” she said in a statement. “Not here. Not anymore.”
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