Actress Asia Argento has released a new statement claiming that she is the victim of a ‘sexual attack’ by her former co-star Jimmy Bennett.

The actress and filmmaker, who has been leading the charge against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, has been accused of paying off child actor Jimmy Bennett after allegedly sexually assaulting the actor when he was just 17.

Despite being one of the first actors to speak out about the monster Harvey Weinstein after she alleged he raped her in 1997 (something Weinstein still denies), Asia Argento has herself been accused of sexual misconduct after it has been brought to light that she paid former-child actor Bennett $380,000. Bennett has made the claims that in May 2013 he met Argento at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina Del Rey, California where she allegedly gave him alcohol and had sex with him. At the time, he had only just turned 17, while Argento was 37, the age of consent in California is 18. [MORE] – Asia Argento pulls of out of music festival curation due to sexual assault allegation

Remaining silent through the process, a new statement has been published by Rolling Stone which describes how her lawyer claims she did not initiate the incident with the child actor. Delving deeper, Argento instead claims she became “frozen” when Bennett allegedly got on top of her. Continuing, the statement explains how Argento “chose at the time not to prosecute”.

In reference to the settlement paid to Bennett, she said that she “will not permit any portion of the balance” overdue because of “this falsely alleged incident”.

In a new and somewhat disturbing turn, the statement then makes fresh allegations against Bennett which include a claim that the former child actor was charged by the LA police department for “unlawful sex with a minor”, “stalking”, “child pornography” and “child exploitation” in 2014.

[MORE] – Asia Argento fired from ‘X Factor Italy’ amid sexual abuse allegations