Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel hit with sexual battery lawsuit by former assistant
- Former assistant says alleged incident occurred in an Atlanta hotel room in 2010
- Vin Diesel’s lawyer says action star ‘completely refutes these outlandish allegations’
A former assistant to Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel filed a lawsuit against him on Thursday alleging that he sexually battered her in 2010 and that she was fired from her job just hours later.
In the lawsuit, filed in a Los Angeles court, the former assistant Asta Jonasson alleges that Diesel assaulted her in an Atlanta hotel room while the pair were working on the movie Fast Five.
“Let me be very clear: Vin Diesel categorically denies this claim in its entirety,” lawyer Bryan Freedman said in a statement reported by the trade outlet Variety. “This is the first he has ever heard about this more than 13-year-old claim made by a purportedly nine-day employee. There is clear evidence which completely refutes these outlandish allegations.”
Jonasson’s lawyer Claire-Lise Kutlay said in a statement: “Sexual harassment in the workplace will never stop if powerful men are protected from accountability.
“We hope her courageous decision to come forward helps create lasting change and empowers other survivors.”
In her lawsuit, Jonasson alleges that Diesel forcibly groped her breasts and kissed her after he had spent a night entertaining multiple women in his hotel suite.
