Former assistant of Fast & Furious star Vin Diesel has filed a lawsuit against him for sexual battery, gender discrimination, and more. The claims state that the assault took place in a Georgia hotel room during the production of Fast Five in 2010. After the assault, the claims also include that his One Race Films had her fired after the incident to have the “assault covered up.”
Details are below of the assault. This is a trigger warning for readers about the details of the assault as described in the lawsuit documents.
Lawsuit Against Vin Diesel Alleges Sexual Battery by Former Assistant
The lawsuit, originally reported on by Vanity Fair, was filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court by plaintiff Asta Jonasson. At the time, she was a “recent film school program graduate” who was hired by One Race Films to accompany the actor in Atlanta during the production of the fifth iteration of the Fast & Furious franchise. Her job included managing a party schedule, joining him at parties, and assisting during photographs that would include him with women as his girlfriend would not be present.
The lawsuit claims against Vin Diesel allege the assault had taken place in September 2010 at the St. Regis hotel. She was asked to wait inside his room while he was with women from a club. When everyone left, he “grabbed Ms. Jonasson’s wrists, one with each of his hands, and pulled her onto the bed.” When she got out of his grasp, she went to the door to wait for him to leave.
The claims went further as to detail him approaching her after the initial incident. He then “began to grope her breasts and kiss her chest.” After, he “dropped to his knees, pushed Ms. Jonasson’s dress up toward her waist, and molested her body, running his hands over Ms. Jonasson’s upper legs, including her inner thighs.” At that point, she yelled and went down the hall before he caught up to her to push her against the wall and masturbate.
Beyond the base details of the claimed assault, Jonasson’s lawsuit against Vin Diesel went over her thought process of handling the situation as it happened. When groped, she had been “afraid to more forcibly refuse her supervisor, knowing that getting him out of that room was both crucial to her personal safety and job security.” As things escalated when they were in the hall, she “closed her eyes, trying to dissociate from the sexual assault and avoid angering him.”
Samantha Vincent, the actor’s sister and president of One Race Films, called the former assistant of Vin Dielse to give her notice that she had been fired after two weeks on the job. She then had to sign a non-disclosure agreement about anything related to her former boss.
Two new California laws opened the door for the former assistant to file a lawsuit against Vin Diesel for sexual battery and other harassment she had faced, like a supervisor bringing her to his room in which he took off his shirt and invited her into bed with him. One law will bar companies from using an NDA to stop sexual assault victims under their employment from taking action. The other revived the window of the statute of limitations. This is why she was able to come forward and make her claims despite the NDA.
The actor, Universal Pictures, and One Race Films have not responded to the claims.