Actress Asia Argento, one of the most prominent accusers of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, secretly paid off a 17-year-old actor who had accused her of sexual assault, per the New York Times.

A new Times report details the allegations leveled against Argento — who dated Anthony Bourdain before his death — by former child actor Jimmy Bennett.

Bennett claimed that in 2013, the 37-year-old actress sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room. He was 17 at the time, and the age of consent in California is 18.

The actor made his allegations in legal documents in November 2017, a month after Argento’s allegations against Harvey Weinstein were revealed in a New Yorker report by Ronan Farrow.

Per the Times:

Mr. Bennett’s notice of intent asked for $3.5 million in damages for the intentional infliction of emotional distress, lost wages, assault and battery. Mr. Bennett made more than $2.7 million in the five years before the 2013 meeting with Ms. Argento, but his income has since dropped to an average of $60,000 a year, which he attributes to the trauma that followed the sexual encounter with Ms. Argento, his lawyer wrote.

Argento eventually agreed to a payment of $380,000 to Bennett.

Read the Times report here.

[image via screengrab]

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