A report in the New York Times last month uncovered a secret hush payment made to former child actor, Jimmy Bennett, who had accused his former co-star, Asia Argento, of sexually assaulting him in 2013, when he was 17 years old. In a subsequent statement, Argento called the New York Times story “absolutely false” and denied ever having a sexual relationship with Bennett. She accused Bennett of extortion and said that her late boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, himself sent the hush payment to avoid “possible negative publicity.” However, leaked text messages and images obtained by TMZ showed Argento and Bennett in bed, apparently topless, with one message reading, “The horny kid jumped me… I had sex with him it felt weird. I didn’t know he was a minor until the shakedown letter.”

Now, Argento has released a second statement through her lawyer, Mark Jay Heller, in which further disputes the claims made by Bennett while insisting that she is in fact the victim.

In the statement, Heller maintains that Argento’s “relationship with Bennett was never sexual, but rather the relationship was a long distance friendship over many years,” and that Argento was the victim of sexual assault.

Heller says that the aforementioned text messages document Argento’s account of being assaulted. “She went on to relate that she became ‘frozen’ when he was on top of her and he told her that she had been his sexual fantasy since he was 12 years old,” the statement reads. “Asia chose at the time not to prosecute Bennett for sexually attacking her.”

Argento’s attorney says the hush payment was made to avoid embarrassment for Argento and her late boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, and was done so at the insistence of Bourdain.

“When Bennett learned of the romantic relationship between Asia and Anthony Bourdain and believing that Anthony Bourdain was wealthy and had an outstanding reputation to protect and that they were both vulnerable to embarrassment because they were recognized as early and prominent supporters of the #metoo movement, Bennett chose to intrude on that relationship and demanded a financial payment from Bourdain in consideration for not embarrassing Asia and indirectly Bourdain by virtue of Bourdain’ relationship with Asia. Bourdain chose to protect Asia’s and his reputation and to pay Bennett and allowed Bennett to extract payments from him. Asia was completely against this approach because she had done nothing wrong and especially since the incident was initiated and perpetrated by Bennett against her, but she respected Anthony’s choice to avoid the potential intrusion into their relationship and the negative impact it might have against Bourdain and his high profile position in the Media community.”

Now that Bourdain has passed away, Argento has apparently decided to forgo paying the remaining $130,000 of the couple’s agreed-upon payment to Bennett. “Asia recognizes that this may very well inspire Bennett to make further false allegations against her and attempt to besmirch her reputation and diminish her credibility in her accusations against Harvey Weinstein,” the statement explains.

Argento’s attorney also goes on to reference allegations against Bennett involving “unlawful sex with a minor” in 2014, as well as Bennett’s alleged use of drugs. which he says are “very relevant and most ironic to point out.”

Despite this, Heller says Argento “does not intend to prosecute Bennett for his conduct and recognizes that his unfortunate past, his stalled acting career, and a lawsuit against his own parents for allegedly misappropriating more than a million and a half dollars from his account might explain his desperation to seek money from Asia and Bourdain for this falsely alleged incident that took place more than five years ago.”

The statement, which you can read in full below, also celebrates Argento as a “pioneer” of “phase one” of the #metoo movement, whose decision to come forward with her own allegations of misconduct against Harvey Weinstein, “inspired many other women… to come forward out of the shadows and bravely voice their unfortunate experiences.” Now, according to the statement, Argento is launching “phase two” of #metoo, which “dictates that the voice of a victim, even one with a history that may be in question, should be heard.”