Asia Argento's new lawyer has issued a statement which claims she is the victim of a "sexual attack" by her former co-star Jimmy Bennett.
Last month, it was reported that Argento had arranged for Bennett to be paid $380,000 to keep a potential lawsuit at bay, after he claimed that she gave him alcohol and had sex with him in May 2013, when he was 17-years-old. In California, the legal age of consent is 18.
Bennett claimed that he suffered from emotional distress after the alleged incident and consequently saw his income drop from $2.7m to $60,000.
Argento's representative claimed that her boyfriend at the time, the late Anthony Bourdain, "chose" to cover the cost of the settlement "to protect Asia's and his reputation" which was "vulnerable to embarrassment" because they were "early and prominent supporters of the #MeToo movement".
In the new statement obtained by Rolling Stone, her lawyer claims she did not initiate the encounter, instead she became "frozen" when Bennett allegedly got on top of her, and that she "chose at the time not to prosecute". It goes on to state that she "will not permit any portion of the balance" left from the settlement between her and Bennett to pay for "this falsely alleged incident".
The statement also reportedly makes new allegations against Bennett, including a claim that in 2014 he was charged by the LA police department for "unlawful sex with a minor", "stalking", "child pornography" and "child exploitation". The magazine said it was unable to locate any reporting from the time about the alleged incident and was unable to reach either Argento's lawyer or Bennett's own legal representative.
Argento initially denied having any sexual relationship with Bennett, however, text messages reportedly sent by her to model Rain Dove appeared to contradict this.
Dove, who has been romantically involved with prominent #MeToo campaigner Rose McGowan, provided the NYPD with the messages in which McGowan allegedly admitted: "I had sex with him [Bennett]. It felt weird."
McGowan severed ties with Argento after the messages came to light, announcing that she felt "betrayed" by her former friend, and urging her to "do the right thing... be the person you wish Harvey [Weinstein] could have been".
Argento's lawyer's statement says it hopes she will be cleared in the court of public opinion regarding the alleged incident with Bennett, and continues to argue that she was the victim of a sexual attack, and "might even be suffering the fallback of a smear campaign".
