Asia Argento, an Italian actress and leading figure in the ‘MeToo’ movement, secretly settled a claim of sexual misconduct from a man 20 years her junior, according to The New York Times.

Ms Argent was accused of assaulting Jimmy Bennett, who rose to prominence as a child actor, in a California hotel room in 2013, according to legal documents seen by the US newspaper.

She was 37 at the time while Mr Bennett was just 17 years and two months old. The age of consent in California is 18.

According to the newspaper, Ms Argento agreed to pay Mr Bennett $380,000, on the proviso that a photograph showing the pair lying in bed on the day of the alleged incident was not made public.

Ms Argento is yet comment on the claims. The Telegraph approached her representatives on Monday but did not get a response about the allegations.