Latest news with #Sokola
New York Post
13-06-2025
- New York Post
Harvey Weinstein accuser blames surprise reveal of her long-lost journal for disgraced producer walking on sex assault charge at NYC retrial
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.
Hindustan Times
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Who is Harvey Weinstein? Disgraced producer found guilty of sexual assault again
Harvey Weinstein's name once opened doors in Hollywood. Now, it's tied to the biggest reckoning in entertainment history. The disgraced producer faces multiple convictions and prison sentences following years of allegations. In the latest courtroom drama, Weinstein's New York retrial ended abruptly after the jury foreman refused to deliberate. But prosecutors have confirmed they plan to pursue that charge again. The retrial concluded on a dramatic note. A New York jury found Weinstein guilty of one count of criminal sexual act. The charge stemmed from the assault of Miriam Haley, a former Project Runway production assistant, in 2006. Haley testified that Weinstein invited her to his SoHo apartment and later assaulted her in a bedroom, ignoring her protests and kicks. She told the court, 'No, no - it's not going to happen,' but he went ahead, reported Associated Press. The conviction echoes the verdict in Weinstein's original 2020 trial, which was overturned earlier in 2024 by New York's Court of Appeals. That retrial, now partly resolved, has reopened the legal battles that brought the #MeToo movement to global attention. While Weinstein was found guilty in Haley's case, he was acquitted of another charge involving Kaja Sokola. Sokola, a former model and now psychologist, testified that Weinstein lured her to a hotel room in 2006 and assaulted her shortly before her 20th birthday. As per Associated Press, Sokola said he undressed her while she pleaded, 'Please don't, please stop, I don't want this.' She added in court, 'My soul was removed from me.' Sokola also testified about another alleged assault when she was just 16, but that incident was beyond the legal statute of limitations. The retrial ended in a mistrial on the third charge - a third-degree rape accusation made by Jessica Mann. The jury foreman refused to deliberate further. Judge Curtis Farber declared a mistrial, with prosecutors confirming their intent to retry the charge. Mann later said, 'I would never lie about rape or use something so traumatic to hurt someone. I didn't speak up to ruin his life. He did that. I spoke because mine matters.' Weinstein continues to deny all allegations of rape or assault. But his legal troubles are far from over. He is already serving a 16-year prison sentence in California after being convicted in Los Angeles in 2022. That verdict is now under appeal. His lawyers claim he did not receive a fair trial and argue that his previous New York conviction, now overturned, prejudiced the jury. The former mogul's downfall began in 2017 when over 80 women accused him of sexual misconduct. Investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorker revealed patterns of abuse and threats spanning decades. The revelations sparked the global #MeToo movement, shifting the culture in workplaces and courtrooms worldwide. Q1: What was Harvey Weinstein convicted of in the retrial? He was found guilty of one count of criminal sexual act for assaulting Miriam Haley in 2006. Q2: Why did the judge declare a mistrial? The jury foreman refused to deliberate on the third-degree rape charge involving Jessica Mann, prompting the mistrial. Q3: Is Weinstein still in prison? Yes. He is serving a 16-year sentence from a separate conviction in Los Angeles while facing a possible new trial in New York.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Kaja Sokola, a former model from Poland, applauds Weinstein conviction
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. Sokola, a former runway model from Poland, 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 actor 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 it 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,' said Sokola, 39. Sokola also said she doesn't 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, Lindsay Goldbrum, a partner at Goddard Law PLLC, said she and her client were prepared for the 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 wasn't 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 overturned after an appeals court found that the judge in that trial had improperly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations that weren't part of the case. Sokola was added to the case after she filed her own lawsuit against Weinstein in December 2019 under New York's Child Victims Act. On the stand, Sokola told the court that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her at a Manhattan hotel in 2006, when she was 19 years old. 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 didn't 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,' she said of her sister. Sokola said she has never spoken with Haley and has 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 he had sexually abused them. 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 he would not have to admit to wrongdoing, Sokola unmasked herself in December 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 said, 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 that 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 he had also forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006. That allegation of 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 that 'we consider this a little bit of a victory' because Weinstein 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 at a news 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 she was asked how she hopes her son will react when he finds out she testified against Weinstein, she 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. This article was originally published on
NBC News
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Kaja Sokola, a former model from Poland, applauds Weinstein conviction
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.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Harvey Weinstein found guilty of sex crime at retrial in New York, acquitted on one charge
Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of committing a sex crime by a jury in New York, more than a year after the state Supreme Court overturned his 2020 conviction on felony sex crime charges. A jury of seven women and five men returned a partial verdict on Wednesday, finding Weinstein guilty of a first-degree criminal sexual act. The jury acquitted him on a second count of first-degree criminal sexual act, and it did not reach a unanimous verdict on a count of third-degree rape. Jurors will continue to deliberate on the third-degree rape count on Thursday, NBC News reported. This time around, the charges stemmed from allegations that Weinstein raped aspiring actor Jessica Mann in 2013 and that he forcibly performed oral sex on two others, former 'Project Runway' production assistant Miriam Haley and former model Kaja Sokola in 2006. Sokola's accusation was not included in Weinstein's first trial. The jury on Wednesday found him guilty of committing a criminal sex act against Haley; it found him not guilty on the charge related to Sokola; and it will continue to deliberate on the rape charge as it relates to Mann. Weinstein has maintained that all of the sexual encounters were consensual. He did not testify in this trial or during his 2020 trial. Weinstein's conviction comes more than five years after he was convicted of felony sex crimes at his first Manhattan trial, which was a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison. Then, in early 2023, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison after being convicted of sex crimes in Los Angeles. He was ordered to serve those sentences consecutively, essentially ensuring that the once-powerful entertainment mogul, now 73, would spend the rest of his life in prison. But his New York conviction was overturned by the state's high court in April 2024, after the justices determined in a 4-3 ruling that he did not get a fair trial. Almost immediately after, Manhattan prosecutors said that they would seek a retrial. Since then, Weinstein has been languishing in New York City's notorious Rikers Island jail, with his attorneys saying that the facility's conditions have exacerbated his health issues. This is a developing story. Check back for updates. This article was originally published on
