'Fast & Furious' star Vin Diesel accused of sexual battery by former assistant

American actor Vin Diesel has been accused of sexual battery in a new lawsuit by a former assistant, Vanity Fair is the first to report.

The suit claims that the actor groped her breasts and kissed her chest, despite her pleas to stop.

Filed today, December 21, 2023 in Los Angeles, the suit claims that the incident took place in a St. Regis hotel suite in 2010 when the assistant was working for the Fast and Furious star during the filming of Fast Five.

The plaintiff, Asta Jonasson said in the suit that she had been contracted by Diesel's company, One Race, to work for the actor on location in Atlanta. The suit added that Jonasson was a recent Los Angeles film school program graduate who assisted the actor in organising parties, accompanying him to parties, and being in close physical proximity to the actor in public.

According to Vanity Fair, "The suit alleges that late one night in September 2010, Jonasson was asked to wait in Diesel's suite at the St. Regis hotel while he entertained hostesses he had brought back from a club. Once the other women were gone, the lawsuit claims, Diesel 'grabbed Ms. Jonasson's wrists, one with each of his hands, and pulled her onto the bed.' She asked him to stop, escaped his grasp, and waited by the front door of the suite for him to leave."

According to the plaintiff, it didn't end there. The suit claims that the actor again approached Jonasson and began to grope her breasts and kiss her chest, despite her pleas to stop. "Ms. Jonasson was 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," the suit continues. "But this hope died when Vin Diesel 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."

Vanity Fair adds that, "Diesel moved to pull down her underwear, Jonasson screamed and ran down the hallway toward the bathroom, where Diesel pinned her to the wall, placing her hand on his erect pennis, even as she verbally refused. He masturbated, the suit alleges, while 'terrified, Ms. Jonasson closed her eyes, trying to dissociate from the sexual assault and avoid angering him.'"

The suit further alleges that Samantha Vincent, Diesel's sister and the president of One Race fired Jonasson after less than two weeks on the job.

The suit also accused the actor of "discrimination on the basis of sex/gender, intentional infliction of emotional distress, hostile work environment, wrongful termination, and retaliation." It accuses Diesel and One Race of "an attempted cover-up" adding that Jonasson "has suffered and continues to suffer humiliation, emotional distress, and mental and physical pain and anguish."

The suit said that Jonasson had signed a nondisclosure agreement before taking the job at One Race and could not speak publicly about the incident. However, the Speak Out Act, which prevents the enforcement of nondisclosure agreements in instances of sexual assault and harassment in the US, and California's AB2777, which temporarily waives statutes of limitations for sexual abuse allegations occurring in 2009 or later, now allows her to come forward.

Diesel has not yet responded to the suit publicly.