Hollywood director James Toback fined billions in #MeToo case after allegations from A-list stars

Oscar nominated director James Toback, who’s faced allegations by numerous A-list stars, has been ordered to pay more than $1billion by a court.

Hollywood director James Toback, who was among the first to be singled out in the #MeToo scandal in 2017, was ordered on Wednesday to pay $USD1.68 billion after a sexual assault trial in New York.

The ruling comes more than seven years after multiple women accused the director of sexual assault, false imprisonment, coercion and psychological abuse.

The jury awarded a total of $USD280 Million in compensatory damages and $1.4 Billion for punitive damages to the victims.

Toback allegedly reeled on women with boasts about his movie career and connections and with claims he could make them a star. Picture: AFP.

Toback, who was nominated for an Oscar for his writing on Bugsy, most recently wrote and directed Sienna Miller and Alec Baldwin’s The Private Life of a Modern Woman.

The lawsuit was filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year window allowing survivors of sexual abuse to file civil rather than criminal claims regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

After the ruling was made public, one of the victims, actress Mary Monahan, said she had been stuck with the trauma from her abuse for “decades”.

“This is not just a verdict—it’s validation,” she said in a statement. “For decades, I carried this trauma in silence, and today, a jury believed me. Believed us. That changes everything. This verdict is more than a number—it’s a declaration. We are not disposable. We are not liars. We are not collateral damage in someone else’s power trip. The world knows now what we’ve always known: what he did was real. And what we did—standing up, speaking out—was right.”

Toback has repeatedly denied the allegations. He alleged that it had been “biologically impossible” for him to engage in the behaviour described by the women for “decades” due to him suffering from diabetes and a heart condition.

After the allegations about the director first emerged in 2017, Hollywood stars such as Selma Blair began sharing their own experiences and interactions with him over the years.

Julianne Moore previously accused the director of sexual misconduct. Picture: AFP.

Rachel McAdams claimed that Toback at sexually propositioned her at his apartment. Picture: KENA BETANCUR / AFP.

He was accused of prowling the streets of New York for decades, looking for young women to invite to meetings with the promise of movie offers.

Actress Julianne Moore previously shared her own experience with the director, revealing that he had tried to make her audition for a role at his apartment in the eighties.

“James Toback approached me in the 80s on Columbus Ave with the same language – wanted me to audition, come to his apt,” she shared.

“I refused. One month later he did it again with the EXACT same language. I said don’t u remember u did this before?”

Grey’s Anatomy actress Ellen Pompeo later told USA Today that she had previously told Toback to “go f**k himself” after he asked if she would “get naked”.

Pompeo, who brought a male friend along to a meeting with Toback, said things became awkward after her friend excused himself.

. “The minute my friend left, he asked me if I would get naked in a movie,” said Pompeo. “And I was like, ‘Really, dude? My friend has been missing all of 30 seconds and now you say that? I kind of laughed in his face.”

Mean Girls star Rachel McAdams previously said that Toback at sexually propositioned her while she was expecting to be auditioning.

“It was all so confusing,” she told Vanity Fair. “I kept thinking, ‘When are we getting to the rehearsal part?’”

“I kept thinking, ‘This is going to become normal any minute now. This is going to all make sense. This is all above board somehow. Eventually I just realised that it wasn’t.”

Originally published as Hollywood director James Toback fined billions in #MeToo case after allegations from A-list stars