A pair of flight attendants declare they have been repeatedly sexually assaulted by the then-prime minister of Lebanon aboard his non-public aircraft — together with whereas en path to a state go to on the White Home — in accordance with a federal lawsuit.
Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri, whom Forbes reported as having a internet value of $1.7 billion in 2018, frequently groped the 2 ladies and forcibly raped considered one of them a number of occasions throughout flights the place Hariri was “closely medicated” and his cronies drank and did cocaine, they alleged in court docket papers.
The assaults continuously occurred on Hariri’s Boeing-737, claimed the ladies, who have been recognized in court docket papers solely as Jane Doe 1 and a couple of.
“If you wish to work on this firm you’ll must be taught to suck some d–ok,” Jane Doe 1’s boss, Helen Conlon, allegedly advised her when she reported the assaults, she claimed within the Brooklyn Federal Courtroom lawsuit.
Hariri, 52, served as Lebanon’s prime minister from 2009 to 2011 and once more from 2016 to 2020 earlier than abruptly leaving politics behind in 2022.
His father, Rafic, additionally served two stints because the nation’s prime minister and was assassinated in 2005.
He has repeatedly denied the allegations as false and deemed them a “smear marketing campaign.”
Hariri has repeatedly denied the allegations as false and deemed them a “smear marketing campaign.”
It’s the third time the ladies have tried to sue Hariri in New York, data present.
Two earlier lawsuits in state court docket have been both dropped or dismissed by a choose.
The purported victims have “engaged in years-long harassment of Mr. Hariri with the purpose of utilizing false and inflammatory allegations in an effort to wrongfully extract thousands and thousands of {dollars},” his lawyer, Rita Glavin, advised a Manhattan Supreme Courtroom choose in August.
Hariri, a married father of three, made headlines in 2019 after it emerged he’d allegedly made $16 million in funds to his bikini-model mistress, Candice van der Merwe, who was later probed in her native South Africa for failing to pay tax on the money.
The flight attendants labored for Saudi Oger, a building firm that shut down in 2017 and was owned by the Hariri household.
Throughout one alleged assault, Hariri allegedly “forcefully” grabbed Jane Doe 1’s genitals and advised her, “I such as you. I’ll see you once more, very quickly,” in accordance with the authorized papers.
The primary accuser — who “feared the doable penalties to each her future employment and security if she reported the abuse externally” — lastly stop in 2009 after years of assaults, she mentioned within the litigation.
The second accuser was first assaulted by Hariri in September 2007, when he flew to Washington, DC for a state go to with President George W. Bush, she alleged.
Hariri requested for a bottle of water in his bed room, then tried to drive her onto his mattress earlier than she escaped, she mentioned within the authorized submitting.
One other of the assaults happened after a 2008 Christmas celebration throughout which the feminine crew was required to decorate in “attractive” Santa costumes and visitors drank “copious” quantities of booze, she mentioned in court docket papers.
When she reported the assaults, Conlon allegedly advised her, “no person says no to [Hariri], darling,” in accordance with the lawsuit.
She was fired in 2010, the alleged sufferer mentioned within the litigation.
The ladies, who hail from Australia and Wales, sued Hariri, a twin citizen in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, in New York beneath the state’s Grownup Survivors Act.
The legislation opened a one-year authorized window for victims who have been over the age of 18 once they have been assaulted, and whose instances are in any other case previous the statute of limitations, to go to court docket.
The victims reported the assaults to legislation enforcement of their house nations, in accordance with their lawyer, Zachary Holzberg.
A spokesperson for Hariri slammed the claims as “outrageous, sensational and defamatory … [and] utterly false,” including, “After one other New York court docket granted our movement to dismiss their unique lawsuit and rejected a second submitting outright, they’re now making an attempt to get a 3rd chew on the apple. … Mr. Hariri stays unwilling to pay the thousands and thousands of {dollars} they demanded in trade for not submitting these lawsuits.
The ladies are searching for unspecified damages.
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