Kaja Sokola, a former model from Poland, applauds Weinstein conviction

NBC News

a day ago

It wasn't exactly the verdict that Harvey Weinstein accuser Kaja Sokola had hoped for, but it was the verdict she said women determined to fight against sexual predators needed.
A former runway model from Poland, Sokola was one of three women who accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting them more than a decade ago.
On Wednesday, a Manhattan jury found Weinstein guilty of assaulting former 'Project Runway' production assistant Miriam Haley, but not her. And it deadlocked on a third-degree rape charge against Weinstein in the alleged sexual assault of former actress Jessica Mann.
'It's not ideal for me,' Sokola told NBC News shortly after the verdict was announced. 'But it doesn't change that much the most important thing, that he's convicted.'
What does this mean for the #MeToo movement, which was galvanized in 2020 by Weinstein's landmark conviction for sexually abusing young women?
'I think it sends the message that we still have some work to do,' Sokola, 39, said.
Sokola also said she does not want what happened to her in court to deter other sex assault victims from coming forward.
'There's no win or lose for me, I was not the one who was on the trial,' she said. 'So I would not want these kind of decisions to discourage others from speaking their truth or from participating in proceedings like this because we have one life to live, and if we won't fight for our own justice, then who will?'
Sokola's attorney, Linsay Goldbrum,a partner at Goddard Law PLLC, said she and her client were prepared for this outcome.
'We are in a different culture than we were five years ago when this trial first happened,' she said. 'But as a former prosecutor, I knew from the beginning that it was going to be an uphill battle for the prosecutors to be able to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt about a crime that occurred almost 20 years ago.'
Sokola was not among the women who testified against Weinstein at his first trial, in which he was convicted of third-degree rape of Mann in 2013. He was also convicted of first-degree criminal sexual act for forcibly performing oral sex on Haley in 2006.
The convictions were later overturned after an appeals court found that the judge in that trial had improperly allowed testimony against the former Miramax chief based on allegations that were not part of the case.
Sokola was added to the case after she filed her own lawsuit against Weinstein in Dec. 2019 under New York's Child Victims Act.
On the stand, Sokola told the court that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006 at a Manhattan hotel when she was 19 years old. But the alleged abuse first began in 2002, when she was 16, and Weinstein forced her to masturbate him, she said.
'I know what he did to me when I was 16, when I was 19 and nothing will change that,' Sokola told NBC News.
Sokola's testimony may have been undermined by her estranged older sister, Ewa Sokola, who had been subpoenaed as a prosecution witness. She testified that Sokola seemed 'extremely tense' after a 2006 post-lunch meeting with Weinstein but did not say she had been assaulted.
'She was proud of knowing him,' Ewa Sokola testified.
Asked about that testimony, Sokola said 'I don't have nothing to be ashamed of.'
'I think she does, or she should have,' Sokola said of her sister.
Sokola said she's never spoken with Haley and talked to Mann just once about two years ago.
Initially, Sokola was part of a group of women who filed a class-action lawsuit against Weinstein and his companies, alleging they had been sexually abused by the producer. At first, she hid her identity behind a pseudonym.
Unhappy with a proposed deal under which almost all the civil cases against Weinstein would be settled for $47 million and the producer would not have to admit to wrongdoing, Sokola unmasked herself in Dec. 2019 when she filed her lawsuit.
In the suit, Sokola said she was 16 in 2002 when she had just moved from Warsaw to New York City and was first introduced to Weinstein. She said that when he learned she wanted to become an actor, he told her he could help her career.
Three days later, the complaint stated, Weinstein picked Sokola up for what was supposed to be a business lunch and instead took her his Manhattan apartment and demanded sex.
When a weeping Sokola tried to resist, Weinstein told her he had 'made' the careers of the actors Penelope Cruz and Gwyneth Paltrow and warned the teenager that she 'would never work as an actress unless she acquiesced to his demands,' according to the complaint.
Sokola said at Weinstein's retrial that he demanded she masturbate him while he touched her.
Sokola, 39, became one of three women who accused Weinstein of sex assault at his retrial after she told prosecutors the producer had also forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006.
That alleged assault mirrored the testimony of Haley, who accused Weinstein of doing the same to her in 2006 when she was looking for work in entertainment production.
Weinstein, who was hit with an additional charge of first-degree criminal sexual act, denied assaulting Sokola. He also denied assaulting Mann and Haley.
Weinstein spokesman, Juda Engelmayer, said 'we consider this a little bit of a victory' because the producer was acquitted on the Sokola charge.
Three days later, the complaint stated, Weinstein picked Sokola up for what was supposed to be a business lunch and instead took her his Manhattan apartment and demanded sex.
When a weeping Sokola tried to resist, Weinstein told her he had 'made' the careers of the actors Penelope Cruz and Gwyneth Paltrow and warned the teenager that she 'would never work as an actress unless she acquiesced to his demands,' according to the complaint.
Sokola said at Weinstein's retrial that he demanded she masturbate him while he touched her.
Sokola, 39, became one of three women who accused Weinstein of sex assault at his retrial after she told prosecutors the producer had also forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006.
That alleged assault mirrored the testimony of Haley, who accused Weinstein of doing the same to her in 2006 when she was looking for work in entertainment production.
Weinstein, who was hit with an additional charge of first-degree criminal sexual act, denied assaulting Sokola. He also denied assaulting Mann and Haley. Weinstein spokesman, Juda Engelmayer, said 'we consider this a little bit of a victory' because the producer was acquitted on the Sokola charge.
'He's feeling, you know, not good about being convicted for Miriam, but relieved that he wasn't convicted on Kaja and hopeful on the Jessica part,' Engelmayer said of Weinstein during a press conference.
Sokola is getting back to the dreams she says Weinstein stole from her after the alleged assaults, with the launch of her own production company, Falcon 88.
'Healing means doing what I love and being able to be a helpful member of society, being a producer that listens to others, respects others, treats people with dignity that they deserve,' she said. 'It's named after my dad. He was 88 years old when he died.'
Her first project is executive producing a film, 'The Eden Express,' starring Jonah Hauer-King and David Duchovny.
Sokola is also a single mom with a young son. And when asked how she hopes her son will react when he finds out she testified against Weinstein, Sokola smiled.
'I hope he will think that his mom is a badass and that his mom stands for the truth and is not afraid to speak her truth,' she said.