Harvey Weinstein accuser blames surprise reveal of her long-lost journal for disgraced producer walking on sex assault charge at NYC retrial

New York Post

14 hours ago

A former Polish model who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault blamed the surprise revelation of her decade-old journal – and her sister's betrayal – for jurors not finding him guilty of the rap this week.
Kaja Sokola, 39, admitted feeling deeply hurt over a dramatic showdown on the stand when she learned her long-lost, private Alcoholics Anonymous recovery journal that Weinstein's defense attorney said had been given to them by her sister.
'I don't think there would be a verdict like that if my sister didn't give that journal,' she told The Post Friday.
3 Former Polish model Kaja Sokola, 39, who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, blamed the revelation of her decade-old journal for the longtime producer being found not guilty in the sexual assault case.
Stephen Yang
The lawyers used the journal – which mentioned two people who sexually assaulted Sokola, but not Weinstein – to sow doubt over her accusations that the Tinseltown terror forcibly performed oral sex on her at a Tribeca hotel in 2006, days shy of her 20th birthday.
'They were trying to use the dirtiest tactics that they can,' she said.
But Sokola said she was still very happy the jury at Weinstein's bombshell Manhattan retrial convicted him on another woman's accusations because it ensures the perv producer likely will spend the rest of his life in prison.
The squabbling jurors on Wednesday found Weinstein, 73, guilty of a criminal sex act charge for allegedly assaulting Miriam 'Mimi' Haley, a former TV production assistant.
But they acquitted the disgraced sex fiend on the same charge connected to Sokola's accusations, which she had detailed in tear-filled testimony last month.
Jurors also couldn't reach a verdict on a rape count stemming from a third victim, Jessica Mann, leading to a mistrial on that charge.
3 Sokola said that she's still very happy that a Manhattan jury convicted Weinstein on another woman's accusations because the perv producer likely will spend the rest of his life in prison.
AP
Sokola said the outcome regarding her charge didn't matter so long as Weinstein was held accountable for his predatory behavior.
'I'm not bitter,' she said, but added, 'I was surprised.'
The psychotherapist's path to the witness stand came after an appeals court overturned Weinstein's conviction in his watershed 2020 Manhattan trial, in which Haley and Mann had testified, but not Sokola.
Prosecutors brought Haley and Mann back for the retrial, and also asked Sokola to testify — which she said was a difficult decision for her to make.
'It is easy to forget we have this strength – it is not gone, it is there,' she told The Post.
3 Sokola told The Post, 'I don't think there would be a verdict like that if my sister didn't give that journal.'
Stephen Yang
Sokola testified that Weinstein assaulted her three times, starting when she was just 16 in 2002.
But during cross-examination Weinstein's lawyers confronted her with the journal that included entries on 'rape' and 'forced sex' about other people who had allegedly sexually abused her, but that only mentioned the Hollywood producer once.
Sokola contended she wrote about Weinstein's alleged rape in other diaries she no longer has access to — and felt blindsided by her sister's apparent collaboration with the producer's defense.
'She manipulated the situation and chose this one workbook,' the former model said.
Weinstein's attorney Arthur Aidala didn't return a call for comment.
Sokola, despite her painful experience, said she would not discourage survivors of sexual assault from coming forward.
'Don't stay alone with that, it's the most important thing,' she said.