Asia Argento denies she had sex with underage boy, in first response to shocking allegation

Maria Puente | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Weinstein accuser Asia Argento allegedly paid off sex assault accuser Prominent Harvey Weinstein accuser and MeToo advocate, Asia Argento, allegedly paid off a young actor who accused her of sexually assaulting him.

Two days after shocking allegations surfaced that #MeToo leader and Harvey Weinstein accuser Asia Argento had sex with an underage boy and paid him hush money, the Italian actress finally responded: "I strongly deny" the claim, she said in a statement.

Her statement appeared on Twitter Tuesday, posted by New York magazine writer Yashar Ali. She decried the allegations, hinted she might take unspecified legal action, and lamented she is the victim of "long-standing persecution."

"I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false," her statement opened. "I never had any sexual relationship with (Jimmy) Bennett."

Argento's statement said that her late boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, considered her accuser "dangerous" but decided Bennett's need for money was worthy of "compassion."

She said Bourdain, who committed suicide in June, helped arrange to pay Bennett $380,000. She did not mention Bourdain's suicide or what role, if any, her arrangement with Bennett may have played in his death.

I just received this statement from @AsiaArgento in response to the NYT story published late Sunday evening. pic.twitter.com/jAOo7TAULX — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 21, 2018

Bennett, a former child actor-turned-rock musician who is now 22, had just turned 17 when he claims he and Argento, then 37, had sex in a hotel room in Marina del Rey near LAX in 2013, according to a stunning New York Times story posted Sunday.

The paper said the story was based on an encrypted email the reporter received from an unknown source; it contained documents about the settlement between Argento and Bennett and her lawyer over his demand for compensation, and included a selfie of the two in bed.

The story said Bennett approached Argento in 2017 shortly after she went public with her accusation that Weinstein raped her, becoming one of the first women to do so. She thus called world-wide attention to herself and helped to set off the #MeToo movement to call out sexual abuse by powerful men in multiple industries, especially Hollywood.

Bennett and Argento were former cast mates in a 2004 movie she wrote, directed and starred in; Bennett was 7 and was cast as her son in the film.

Argento, who declined to comment to the Times when its story was published and did not return calls from USA TODAY on Monday, portrayed Bennett as opportunistic and in desperate need for money, having sued his own relatives for millions for allegedly mishandling money he earned as a child actor.

Argento acknowledged in her statement that she was "linked" to Bennett by "friendship only." That ended when her role in accusing Weinstein became public in October 2017 and Bennett "unexpectedly made an exorbitant request for money from me."

Her statement said Bennett knew Bourdain and "perceived" that he was wealthy with a reputation to protect.

"Anthony insisted the matter be handled privately, and this was also what Bennett wanted," the statement said. "Anthony was afraid of the possible negative publicity that such person, whom he considered dangerous, could have brought upon us.

"We decided to deal compassionately with Bennett’s demand for help and give it to him. Anthony personally undertook to help Bennett economically, upon the condition that we would no longer suffer any further intrusions in our life."

Argento's statement, which may have been originally composed in Italian, said that this latest development "of a sequence of events" brings her "great sadness and constitutes a long-standing persecution."

She said she had no other choice but to "oppose such false allegations" and will seek "all necessary initiatives" for my protection before all competent venues."

So far, Argento's lawyer, Carrie Goldberg, has not responded publicly to the allegations, even though the encrypted email the Times said it received included private messages between the lawyer and her client.

Bennett's lawyer, Gordon Sattro, also has declined to comment, saying his client would continue to focus on his music.

But the allegations against Argento are already having some consequences. The #MeToo movement was stunned by the Times story, then rushed to reassure supporters that the movement is bigger than one accuser or one story.

But if the alleged encounter between Argento and Bennett actually did happen, it was a crime and the statute of limitations in California for child sexual abuse has not yet run out.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the police agency for Marina del Rey, said Monday there has been no report filed but detectives are aware of the reports and are looking into the matter.

"To date, the LASD has not located any police report alleging criminal activity within our jurisdiction in relation to this incident," according to a statement posted online by Capt. Darren Harris of the Sheriff's Information Bureau. "The LASD’s Special Victims Bureau is attempting to reach out to the reported victim and/or his representatives in an effort to appropriately document any potential criminal allegations."