Harvey Weinstein’s vile remark to alleged teen rape victim

Chilling new claims about how disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein allegedly used his A-lister connections have emerged in his sex-crimes retrial.

Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted a 16-year-old model inside his Soho apartment — and then bragged to her about helping boost the careers of Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz, a court heard at the start of his Manhattan retrial.

The disgraced film producer’s youngest accuser, Kaja Sokola, was identified as the new witness set to confront Weinstein, 73, in Manhattan Supreme Court after his prior conviction at the height of the #MeToo movement was tossed on appeal.

Disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein smiles as he appears in Manhattan Criminal Court. Picture: AFP

The one-time Miramax mogul held the Poland native down and forcibly performed oral sex on her “while she cried and said ‘Please don’t do this’” in 2006, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey told jurors during opening statements.

He first allegedly assaulted Sokola in 2002, when she was just 16, after she agreed to meet him for lunch, the prosecutor said.

Weinstein then had his driver take them to his apartment, where he invited her up under the guise of just needing to grab “some papers,” Lucey said.

Model Kaja Sokola alleges she was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein when she was just 16 in 2002.

Disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein adjusts his tie as he appears in Manhattan Criminal Court. Picture: AFP

When inside, the Pulp Fiction producer demanded that the teenager take off her shirt — saying “This is what happens in the industry” — and then sexually assaulted her, the prosecutor said.

After the attack ended, Weinstein name-dropped Paltrow and Cruz before giving Sokola a sick word of purported advice — that she “needed to work on her stubbornness,” Lucey said.

The accused serial sex pest was wheeled into the courtroom in a wheelchair Wednesday morning. He sat at the defence table wearing a navy suit, white shirt and tie as the trial kicked off, following more than a week of jury selection that ended with a panel of seven women and five men being selected.

As the prosecutor described the alleged depraved attacks, he sipped calmly from a glass of water.

Weinstein accusers Tarale Wulf and Dawn Dunning arrive for Harvey Weinstein’s retrial. Picture: AP

Sokola, now in her mid-30s, is expected to testify at trial, alongside two other women, Jessica Mann and Miriam “Mimi” Haley, who say Weinstein lured them into his web with the promise of advancing their careers before sexually assaulting them.

He is accused of raping Mann and forcing oral sex on Haley. Both women also testified at Weinstein’s 2020 trial.

“The defendant wanted their bodies, and the more they resisted, the more forceful he got,” Lucey said.

The fallen Hollywood kingpin “had enormous control over those working in TV and film because he decided who was in, and who was out,” she said.

“He used those dream opportunities as weapons.”

Accuser Jessica Mann is set to testify. Picture: AFP

Even after the 2002 assault, Sokola continued reaching out to Weinstein in hopes of launching an acting career, the prosecutor said. The Oscar-winning producer “held the golden ticket: a chance to make it, or not.”

In 2006, Weinstein got Sokola a role as an extra on the film Nanny Diaries, where she got a chance to meet A-list cast members Scarlett Johansson and Alicia Keys, jurors heard.

One day on set, Weinstein crept up on her and whispered in her ear, ‘You’re getting special treatment,” the prosecutor said.

That April, Weinstein, then 54 years old, invited the then 19-year-old up to his hotel room, again with a false pretence — this time claiming that they’d “see some scripts,” the jury heard.

Once inside, the Shakespeare In Love producer ordered her to remove her clothes, Lucey said.

Weinstein then pressed her onto the bed and performed oral sex on her despite her cries for him to stop, the prosecutor said.

The accused sicko masturbated during the encounter, and when he was finished, nonchalantly told her, “See that wasn’t so bad,” jurors heard.

Weinstein is only charged with the 2006 incident — and faces up to 25 years if convicted of a “forcible” criminal sexual act — though jurors will hear Sokola testify about the earlier episode as well.

Harvey Weinstein smiles in court ahead of opening arguments in the rape and sexual assault trial against him in New York City. Picture: AFP

Sokola did not go public with her allegations until after 2017, when Weinstein emerged as the poster boy of the worldwide reckoning against sexual harassment known as the #MeToo movement.

She filed a lawsuit against Weinstein in 2019 that was settled in 2023 for $3 million, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies sexually assaulting anyone.

His defence lawyer, Arthur Aidala, claimed in his own opening statement that the ex-studio boss had merely engaged in consensual “mutually beneficial relationships” with women who willingly participated in a quid pro quo.

“He gets them auditions, he gets them jobs. And in return, they fool around with him. They fooled around with him consensually,” Aidala told jurors.

“All these years later, it becomes a problem,” he added.

Actors Tarale Wulff and Dawn Dawning, who testified against Weinstein at his first trial in 2020, observed the proceedings from a packed courthouse gallery.

Weinstein was separately convicted of rape in California after an Italian model testified that he threw himself on her after appearing uninvited outside her hotel room during an Italian film festival in 2013.

He’s currently being housed at Bellevue Hospital after convincing a judge to temporarily transfer him from Rikers Island, where he claimed he was not getting proper treatment for his various health ailments.

Weinstein faces up to 25 years in prison in the Manhattan case on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, and four years in prison on a charge of third-degree rape.

This article was originally published on The New Post.