UNITED STATES
AFP
August 20, 2018
Italian actress and sexual abuse campaigner Asia Argento is not under investigation over bombshell allegations that she had sex five years ago with an underage teen, police told AFP on Monday.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that Argento, a Harvey Weinstein accuser and leading figure in the #MeToo movement, had paid Jimmy Bennett $380,000 over the 2013 incident at a Los Angeles hotel.
The development prompted accusations of hypocrisy from Weinstein’s lawyer who said that the revelations undermined her claims against his client.
Bennett was 17 at the time of the alleged assault — a year younger than California’s age of consent. A spokeswoman for the LA County Sheriff’s Department said however the agency had “no open investigation.”
“Enquiries will be made. At this point, it’s just enquiring and gathering information, since we don’t have an active investigation,” Kimberly Alexander told AFP.
She said she was unaware if the department had contacted Bennett, now 22.
The actor and rock musician said Argento, 42, assaulted him in a California hotel room, according to the Times, which cited documents sent to the paper by an unidentified party.
Argento became a powerful voice for the #MeToo movement after accusing Weinstein of raping her when she was 21 in his hotel room in 1997 during the Cannes film festival.
Bennett’s legal action was launched a month after Argento’s accusations against Weinstein were made public, the Times said.
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