Sydney barrister ‘showed seedy video of himself engaged in sex act to job interviewee’

A WELL-KNOWN Sydney lawyer allegedly showed a young woman applying for a job a video of him with sex workers. GRAPHIC

Tina Huang alleges well-known lawyer Charles Waterstreet showed her a video of himself engaged in a sex act during her job interview.

A WELL-KNOWN Sydney lawyer showed a young female job applicant a video of himself being masturbated before denying all involvement, an ongoing New Matilda investigation has alleged.

Late last month, 21-year-old University of Sydney law student Tina Huang alleged that just 20 minutes into an August 2017 job interview for a paralegal position in criminal barrister Charles Waterstreet’s chambers, he showed her a video of himself receiving a handjob from two sex workers.

The video, which has been viewed by news.com.au, shows two women performing a lewd act on a man who appears to be Mr Waterstreet. The camera focuses on the women’s naked breasts before panning down to his exposed penis.

Immediately after she was shown the video in a job interview, Ms Huang sent a Facebook message to a friend expressing her shock, which news.com.au has also seen. She has signed two statutory declarations in the presence of Marque Lawyers confirming what happened.

In a statement published by Fairfax Media a few days later, Mr Waterstreet denied the allegation, claiming any imagery of a sexual nature that Ms Huang may have seen in the course of her interview or days-long employment would have been related to his work as a lawyer.

Charles Waterstreet has defended many high-profile clients in major criminal cases.

The lawyer, who denies the allegations, allegedly gave a book featuring a nude photo of himself to one employee as a ‘first day present’.

“Whilst I cannot reveal the specific matter, one case did involve a female client sending me 102 stills and videos of the other party’s communications with herself,” Mr Waterstreet wrote. “That case is still before the courts and that material constitutes evidence.”

He also tweeted a screengrab of an email from Ms Huang providing assistance with a talk he was giving on “Post Porn” after she resigned. She says she only sent the email so as not to offend him or appear unprofessional.

One of the sex workers in the video confirmed to New Matilda that it depicted both her and Mr Waterstreet. She declined to comment further on the video, except to add that the acts depicted were consensual.

Mr Waterstreet has denied the allegations levelled against him, but has not yet responded to requests from New Matilda and news.com.au for comment on these new details.

Mr Waterstreet has been a lawyer for more than 40 years and the character of Rake in the ABC series is loosely based on him. He is seen as a flamboyant character, writes for Penthouse and has publicly bragged about sleeping with university students during his time as a law lecturer at the University of New South Wales.

Since Ms Huang’s allegations, other women have come forward as a result of Mr Waterstreet’s Fairfax Media article.

Genevieve Wilks, who worked for Mr Waterstreet for 10 months, alleged in a New Matilda interview that on her first day of work, she was given a book containing a nude photo of Mr Waterstreet as “a first day of work present”.

She also alleges that in the course of her employment she was constantly sexually harassed by her boss.

News.com.au has seen emails from Mr Waterstreet to Ms Wilks in which he refers to reading “by lite of iPad on [porn site] redtube” and adds “hope to see you from time to time, at least on Tinder.”

She also told news.com.au that on one occasion, Mr Waterstreet allegedly showed her a sketch of his “beautiful penis” while flaccid, and her email correspondence shows she was routinely underpaid.

Another woman, Anita*, who was also interviewed for a paralegal position earlier this year, levelled a number of similar allegations against Mr Waterstreet as those by Ms Huang, including that he showed her a “black double penetration sex device” as part of the interview process.

New Matilda gave me till 9oclock tomorrow morning to answer questions concerned with their ridiculous 'investigation' here are my answers - pic.twitter.com/yJKE0PgPir

— Charles Waterstreet (@CCWaterstreet) October 30, 2017

Ms Huang told New Matilda: “Mr Waterstreet showed to me a video of himself receiving a handjob … and then implied via the SMH that such a video was a part of a case and therefore, I could not ‘stomach’ the graphic nature of criminal law.

“I can ‘stomach’ the graphic nature of criminal law and I can stomach so much more. I can stomach going against the legal fraternity and The Sydney Morning Herald, the institutions of power and privilege that will protect [him].

“[I can stomach] time and time again, [coming] to my own defence and calling [Mr Waterstreet] out for the sexual harassment.

“I always [suspected] and feared that there were other women out there and while no woman ever owes anyone her story, I am grateful that others have chosen to stand with me.”

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*Some names have been changed to protect identities

If you or someone you know have been impacted by sexual harassment or assault support is available at 1800 RESPECT.