Vin Diesel is denying all ‘sexual battery’ claims made by one of his former assistants, says his lawyer.
One of Vin Diesel’s former assistants, Asta Jonasson, has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles against him with allegations that he sexually battered her while she was working for him back in 2010.
It’s said that the ex-assistant was working for Diesel while he was filming Fast Five.
The Fast & Furious star’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, has responded publicly to the claims, as per Vanity Fair, stating that Diesel denies all of the alleged claims.
In a statement provided to Vanity Fair who requested for comment, the lawyer said: “Let me be very clear: Vin Diesel categorically denies this claim in its entirety.”
He continued: “This is the first he has ever heard about this more than 13-year-old claim made by a purportedly 9-day employee.”
He added: “There is clear evidence which completely refutes these outlandish allegations.”
Lawsuit Allegations – Details
In the filed lawsuit, plaintiff Jonasson claims that she was hired by Diesel’s company, One Race, to work for him in Atlanta where he was, at the time, shooting Fast Five.
Diesel stars as Dominic Toretto in the Fast and Furious franchise, as well as serving as producer.
It’s described that Jonasson was a recent “film-school-program” graduate at the time, whose main job was to accompany Diesel to parties and ensure that she remained in close physical proximity to him “in case photographs were taken of him with women when he attended events without his longtime girlfriend.”
Allegations made in the lawsuit state that late one night in September of 2010, Jonasson was asked to wait in Diesel’s suite at the St. Regis hotel, while he entertained hostesses he had brought back from a club.”
It continues to claim that once all the women had left, Diesel “grabbed Ms. Jonasson’s wrists, one with each of his hands, and pulled her onto the bed.” With details that she asked him to stop, escaped him, and proceeded to wait by the front door of the suite for him to leave.
However, the lawsuit claims that instead of leaving – Diesel decided to approach Jonasson again and ‘grope her breasts and kiss her chest’, despite her asking him to stop.
The suit continues to detail: “Ms. Jonasson was afraid to more forcibly refuse her supervisor, knowing that getting him out of that room was both crucial to her personal safety and job security, but this hope died when Vin Diesel dropped to his knees, pushed Ms. Jonasson’s dress up toward her waist, and molested her body, running his hands over Ms. Jonasson’s upper legs, including her inner thighs.”
Diesel then forcefully tried to pull down her underwear, according to the lawsuit – before Jonasson ‘screamed and ran down the hallway toward the bathroom’, where she was then pinned to a wall by the Fast and Furious star who placed ‘her hand on his erect penis, even as she verbally refused.’
As per Vanity Fair, He masturbated, the suit alleges, while “terrified, Ms. Jonasson closed her eyes, trying to dissociate from the sexual assault and avoid angering him.”
The lawsuit then alleges that hours later, Diesel’s sister and the president of Once Race called Jonasson to terminate her employment despite only having the job for less than two weeks.
“It was clear to her that she was being fired because she was no longer useful—Vin Diesel had used her to fulfill his sexual desires and she had resisted his sexual assaults,” the lawsuit alleges.
Adding that Jonasson’s “self-esteem was demolished, and she questioned her own skills and whether a successful career would require her to trade her body for advancement.”
There are also details of another inappropriate incident that allegedly happened while Jonasson worked for Diesel, as the lawsuit claims that another One Race supervisor asked her to come to his room at the same location – while she was working – where he took off his shirt, got into bed, and told her to “Come here.”
However, according to the lawsuit, Jonasson left the room immediately.
Additionally to the sexual battery claims, the lawsuit also claims discrimination on the bases of sex/gender, intentional infliction of emotional distress, hostile work environment, wrongful termination, and retaliation.
As well as accusing Diesel and his production of an ‘attempted cover-up’ and stating that Jonasson “has suffered and continues to suffer humiliation, emotional distress, and mental and physical pain and anguish.”
Jonasson is said in the lawsuit to have kept quiet all these years due to signing a nondisclosure agreement when she took the job at One Race, however, it’s said that she was able to now file the claims thanks to the Speak Out Act.
The Speak Out Act prevents the enforcement of nondisclosure agreements in instances of sexual assault and harassment, and California’s AB2777, which can temporarily waive statutes of limitations of sexual abuse allegations occurring in 2009 or later.
It also states that Jonasson was inspired by the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements to “reclaim her agency and justice for the suffering she endured at the hands of Vin Diesel and One Race.”
After working for Diesel, Jonasson continued to work in the entertainment industry as an assistant and production coordinator, as well as various other roles in the field.
