The heir to the Coca-Cola bottling fortune was again ordered Monday to pay millions of dollars in damages to a former employee who accused him of sexual assault.
A Los Angeles jury has unanimously awarded Greek billionaire Archi David a massive $900 million in damages to a woman who identifies herself in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, for harassing and raping her over a three-year period, her lawyer said.
“The facts of this case are so despicable. He raped my client while on trial for another case,” said his lawyer, Gary Dordick. He told the Los Angeles Times.
The abuse allegedly began in February 2016, when the victim worked as a model for several of David’s companies, including Hologram USA, which makes holograms of deceased celebrities.
The office was “surprisingly hostile.” Jane Doe’s lawyer said: One room was dubbed the “rape room” and the human resources department had a pornographic image on its door labeled “HER-ASS.”
According to the lawsuit, he first tried to kiss her during a business trip to his private island in Greece, but she rejected him and he apologized.
Jane Doe was fired later that year and never spoke to him again until 2018, when he invited her to rejoin his team as a brand ambassador for cannabis manufacturing company Swiss-X.
After she accepted the job, David invited her back to his hotel room and gave her samples of what he claimed were CBD products, which left her in an intoxicated and confused state.
The suit accuses the billionaire of taking advantage of the incoherent woman by forcing her to masturbate in front of him and engage in sexual contact.
The abuse escalated the following year, when David allegedly raped her in a small room during a business meeting with his Doberman pinscher, according to the Los Angeles Times.
At the time, David was on trial for allegedly thrusting his pelvis into the face of employee Mahim Khan.
He was ordered to pay her $58 million for abuse, the third judgment against him that year alone.
Other employees claim David tried to force sex on them or fired them after they refused.
“This landmark ruling is a major victory for justice and sets a precedent in the fight against sexual assault in the workplace,” Dordick said in a statement.
