A stunning 22-year-old model with ties to former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told police she was molested by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein during an audition in his Tribeca office, sources told The Post on Monday.
The accuser is catwalker and former beauty queen Ambra Battilana, a film-industry source said. Battilana was one of two models who witnessed one of Berlusconi’s infamous “bunga-bunga” orgies and offered testimony to Italian authorities.
“We believe this is a blackmail attempt, and he did nothing wrong,” a source close to Weinstein said.
The former Miss Italy contestant told cops she met Weinstein at the red-carpet opening of his Radio City“New York Spring Spectacular” last Thursday. They exchanged e-mails to set up an audition in Weinstein’s office on the third floor of the Tribeca Film Center on Greenwich Street at around 6 p.m. Friday, which is when the Miramax co-founder allegedly came on to her, law-enforcement sources said.
She claimed “he asked if [her breasts] were real,” a source said.
Weinstein then allegedly grabbed her breast, and she said, “No, stop,” she told police. She claimed that Weinstein, 63, a married dad of five, then put his hand up her skirt and asked her for a kiss.
She responded “no” and left, she told police. She later went to the 1st Precinct station house off Varick Street to file a complaint.
Weinstein was questioned by police Saturday, and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. will determine whether to file charges, sources said.
But one law-enforcement source insisted the case is “BS.”
Trending
Who's making headlines in television, music, movies and more from Hollywood to the Heartland.