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Associated Press

Harvey Weinstein callously preceded an alleged rape with reassurances that he had had a vasectomy, one accuser testified on Wednesday.
Another accuser said the once-revered Hollywood producer tried trading movie roles for sex, claiming the lewd offer was the kind of thing that happened all the time in the film business.
Choking back tears, Tarale Wulff told jurors there was no stopping the much larger Weinstein as he grabbed her by the arm, pushed her onto a bed and raped her at his New York apartment in 2005, during what was supposed to be an audition.
Wulff, now 43 and a model, said she froze, thinking that would make it “easier to get through, to get past it”.

Dawn Dunning testified that the year before, Weinstein put his hand up her skirt and fondled her genitals during a meeting in his hotel suite about her fledgling acting career.
At another meeting, Dunning said, he offered to put her in three movies, but only if she had sex with him and his assistant.
“When he said that, I kind of laughed, I thought he was kidding, and he had kind of a crass sense of humour,” Dunning testified. “But when I started laughing, he got really angry and started screaming at me. He said, ‘you’ll never make it in this business, this is how this industry works.’”
Dunning, now 40, said Weinstein went on to name-drop actresses Salma Hayek and Charlize Theron, implying they had done similar things to achieve success – something both women have strongly denied.
Hayek has said she had to fight off Weinstein’s constant harassment and bullying. Theron was upset when some accusers said he implied they had slept together.
Weinstein ‘used injections’ before assault and screamed he was ‘owed’ sex
Wulff and Dunning’s experiences with Weinstein are not part of the underlying criminal charges against him, but their testimony could be a factor in whether he goes to prison at the end of his landmark #MeToo-era trial.
Prosecutors called them as witnesses under a state law that allows testimony about so-called “prior bad acts”, enabling them to explore things like motive, opportunity, intent and a common scheme or plan.
Weinstein, 67, is charged with forcibly performing oral sex on Mimi Haleyi, at the time a Project Runway production assistant, in 2006 and raping another aspiring actress in 2013. That woman could testify later this week.
Weinstein has insisted any sexual encounters were consensual.

His lawyers raised doubts about Wulff’s recollection, after she disclosed that she had worked with a therapist for a year to fill gaps in her memory. For instance, Wulff said, she had no clear memory of how her and Weinstein’s clothing came off.
Weinstein’s lawyers also questioned why Dunning waited until last summer to tell prosecutors that Weinstein had fondled her after she had gone public with the jobs-for-sex allegation, first in an article in The New York Times in October 2017.
The jury of seven men and five women has already heard from Haleyi, who tearfully testified Monday that she tried to fight off Weinstein before he sexually assaulted her, and actress Annabella Sciorra, who testified last week that he overpowered and raped her after barging into her apartment in the mid-1990s.
Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault, unless they agree to be named or gone public with their stories, as Haleyi, Wulff, Dunning and Sciorra have done.
Was Harvey Weinstein scared of a Chihuahua called Peanut?
Wulff testified that on an occasion before the alleged rape, Weinstein grabbed her arm as she served cocktails at one of his usual Manhattan haunts, led her toward a darkened terrace and started masturbating.
Wulff, who had met Weinstein at the members-only club, said she froze and scooted around him to go back to the bar.
Dunning told jurors she met Weinstein while waiting tables at a different Manhattan night spot, one where bottle service was a trendy indulgence for the rich and famous.
Weinstein immediately appeared to take an interest in her fledgling acting career, she said, and invited her to a lunch meeting where, noting his infamous temper, she said he was “on the phone a lot yelling at people”.

Several meetings followed, Dunning said, including one at a boutique hotel in Manhattan’s Soho neighbourhood where Weinstein was using a suite as a temporary office. At one point, she testified, Weinstein led her into a bedroom and put his hand up her skirt.
“I stood up. I was in shock,” Dunning said, fighting back tears as she described the alleged incident when she was 24. “He just started talking really fast. He said, ‘Don’t make a big deal about this. It will never happen again.’”
Asked by prosecutor Meghan Hast whether she was gaining anything by testifying at the trial, Dunning responded: “No, if anything I’m losing. This is the worst and hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
Dunning said she “just kind of gave him the benefit of the doubt” when Weinstein said it would not happen again. She said she did not scream or yell and did not tell anyone because she was embarrassed and did not want to be a victim.
US actress Rosie Perez backs up Sciorra account in Weinstein rape trial
Dunning said that she later agreed to meet Weinstein at a cigar bar, but that an assistant took her to a suite where the producer was standing in a bathrobe.
There, she said Weinstein showed her a contract for three movie roles she would get on the condition she had “a threesome with his assistant”.
Dunning said she did not know what Weinstein would do after she laughed off the offer, so she ran for the door and down the hall to the lift.
“He was a big guy. He was towering over me,” she testified. “I was really scared.”


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Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein name-dropped Salma Hayek and Charlize Theron, accuser says

Witness Dawn Dunning (right) is questioned by Assistant District Attorney Meghan Hast at New York Criminal Court on Wednesday. Image: Jane Rosenberg via Reuters

Film producer Harvey Weinstein leaves New York State Supreme Court in the Manhattan borough of New York, January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Jefferson Siegel

Dawn Dunning leaves the Manhattan DA's office on Jan. 29, 2020 in New York. Dunning testified for the prosecution against Harvey Weinstein this morning. (Alec Tabak/New York Daily News/TNS)

Tarale Wulff, witness in the trial of film producer Harvey Weinstein returns to court following a break in New York State Supreme Court in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Harvey Weinstein accuser Mimi Haleyi says she tried to fight off disgraced mogul  as he forced oral sex on her

Former production assistant Mimi Haleyi arrives to testify against Harvey Weinstein in New York on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Harvey Weinstein, former co-chairman of the Weinstein Co., arrives at state supreme court in New York, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. Weinstein, who is charged with rape and predatory sexual assault, is accused of raping a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on another in 2006 in his SoHo apartment. If convicted, he could get life in prison. Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg

Witness Mimi Haleyi is questioned by Assistant District Attorney Meghan Hast in front of Judge James Burke as film producer Harvey Weinstein listens during his sexual assault trial at New York Criminal Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S. January 27, 2020 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

Sopranos actor Annabella Sciorra confronts Harvey Weinstein in court, saying he overpowered and raped her

Actress Annabella Sciorra arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Harvey Weinstein arrives in Manhattan Criminal Court for the second day of his trial Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS)

Actor Annabella Sciorra is questioned by prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon on the stand as film producer Harvey Weinstein attends his sexual assault trial at New York Criminal Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S. January 23, 2020 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

Was Harvey Weinstein scared of a Chihuahua called Peanut?

An accuser’s friend in Harvey Weinstein’s trial testifies that the ‘pathetic older man’ ran away from her Chihuahua. Photo: Shutterstock

Witness Mimi Haleyi testifies during film producer Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial at New York Criminal Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S. January 27, 2020 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

Harvey Weinstein walks to the courtroom for his trial in State Supreme Court on January 27, 2020 in New York. Testimony was expected from accuser Mimi Haleyi today. (Alec Tabak for New York Daily News/TNS)

Film producer Harvey Weinstein watches as witness Mimi Haleyi is cross examiner. Photo: Reuters

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Both stars have denied sleeping with disgraced film producer to advance their careers
Actress Dawn Dunning tells court Weinstein tried to trade movie roles for sex, claiming it was the norm in showbiz



Both stars have denied sleeping with disgraced movie mogul to advance their careers.


Sexual harassment and assault

Fame and celebrity

Crime