Vin Diesel’s former assistant has filed a lawsuit against the Fast & Furious star, alleging that the actor sexually battered her while she was working for him in the fall of 2010, during the filming of Fast Five.
In court documents filed in Los Angeles and obtained by Vanity Fair, the assistant, Asta Jonasson, claims that she was hired by Diesel’s company, One Race, to work for the actor while Fast Five was in production in Atlanta.
According to the outlet, the suit states that Jonasson’s responsibilities included organizing parties, accompanying Diesel to parties, and staying in close proximity to him in case he was photographed with women at events without his longtime girlfriend.
ET has reached out to Diesel’s rep for comment.
The suit alleges that in September 2010, Jonasson was asked to wait in Diesel’s suite at his hotel while he entertained hostesses he had brought back from a club. The lawsuit claims that once everyone else was gone, Diesel “grabbed Ms. Jonasson’s wrists, one with each of his hands, and pulled her onto the bed.”
Jonasson allegedly asked him to stop and escaped his grasp, waiting by the front door of the suite for him to leave. Instead of leaving, the lawsuit claims Diesel approached Jonasson and began to grope her despite her pleas to stop.
“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,” the suit claims. “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.”
The lawsuit claims that Diesel attempted to pull down Jonasson’s underwear, which caused the former assistant to scream and run down the hallway toward the bathroom, where Diesel allegedly pinned her to the wall, even as she verbally refused. The documents claim that the star allegedly masturbated while “terrified, Ms. Jonasson closed her eyes, trying to dissociate from the sexual assault and avoid angering him.”
Hours later, the suit alleges, Samantha Vincent — Diesel’s sister and the president of One Race — called Jonasson to terminate her employment after less than two weeks on the job.
“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,” according to the suit, which says that Jonasson’s “esteem was demolished, and she questioned her own skills and whether a successful career would require her to trade her body for advancement.”
The lawsuit also claims Jonasson suffered, among other things, discrimination on the basis of sex/gender, intentional infliction of emotional distress, hostile work environment, wrongful termination, and retaliation.
It also accuses Diesel and his production company of an attempted cover-up and claims that Jonasson “has suffered and continues to suffer humiliation, emotional distress, and mental and physical pain and anguish.”
Jonasson claims that because she signed a nondisclosure agreement when she took the One Race position, she’s maintained her silence since the alleged incident.
She credited the Speak Out Act, California’s AB2777 and #MeToo and Time’s Up movements for inspiring her to “reclaim her agency and justice for the suffering she endured at the hands of Vin Diesel and One Race.”
The Speak Out Act, which was introduced in the Senate last July and signed into law last December, prevents the enforcement of nondisclosure agreements in instances of sexual assault and harassment. California’s AB2777 temporarily waives statutes of limitations for sexual abuse allegations occurring in 2009 or later.
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