Raped by a close associate of Harvey Weinstein. The new indictment coming down on Hollywwod comes from Sara Ziffformer model and founder of Model Alliancean advocacy group for models and fashion creatives, which accuses Fabrizio Lombardoformer head of the Miramax in Italiaof being raped in a hotel where she was lured with the promise of a meeting with Weinstein, at the time very powerful Hollywood producer and CEO of the company, convicted of sex crimes in New York and California, who is serving 39 years in prison.
The accusations
The lawsuit was filed on April 6 in the New York state court by the woman. According to the former model, the facts date back to 2001 when she was 19 and an aspiring actress. Ziff says she attended a screening of a film in a private theater in New York with her Lombardo, who was in his early 40s. The attack allegedly took place later in a hotel suite where, obviously, no one was there.
Disney also sued
Miramax was owned at the time by Walt Disneywhich sold the film studio to an investment group in 2010. And Ziff also cites Weinstein, Miramax and Disney itself in his indictment, claiming they were aware of Lombardo’s danger “to the women he met at work”, but that I did nothing to stop him.
The link between Lombardo and Weinstein
Ziff claims that Lombardo and Weinstein were “very close”: the producer, in the past has attributed to Lombardo the credit for having saved his life and in 2003 he was a witness at the wedding of his colleague who often appeared on the sidelines of the many stories and accusations on Weinstein’s abuse of young women. He was also mentioned in the sexual harassment class action lawsuit filed against the Weinstein Company in October 2018. But this is the first time he himself has been accused of sexual assault in a court of law.
The allegations of Asia Argento
It’s also the first time Sara Ziff has spoken publicly about her own experience, despite having been instrumental in helping others tell their stories of sexual abuse, thanks to Model Alliance.
In 2017, however, the woman had filed a complaint with the New York City Police Department, but no charges had been filed. In that same year, Lombardo was accused by four women, among them Asia Argento and the model Zoe Brock, that he was Mr. Weinstein’s go-between – and in part that he was employed by Miramax for that purpose. In various interviews, Lombardo has consistently denied these allegations and never appeared in court during the class action suit, which was later settled as part of the Weinstein Company’s bankruptcy filing.
La Adult survivors act
“I’ve always been frustrated that those people seem to escape any kind of accountability,” Ziff said, noting that she made the decision to go to court when the New York law was passed. Adult survivors act (Asa) in May 2022, a law extending until November 2023, the rights of victims of sexual offenses to bring civil actions that otherwise would have been barred.
Ziff recalled going to the bill signing with the governor and other women she has known over the years, who had spoken out about their abuse and trauma. “It seemed that there was a possibility to do something about what had happened-she concluded her-even if it happened a long time ago”.