Main Facts
In a lawsuit, Alice Bianco claims she was twenty-one years old when the club’s food and beverage director, Pavel Melitsar, forced her into a “sexual relationship ‘in exchange’” in 2021, noting that he could either fire her or make her life difficult if she did not comply.
After Bianco and a fellow unnamed employee wrote a letter to Trump’s personal staff about the alleged sexual harassment by Melitsar towards female employees, attorney Alina Habba approached Bianco and said she wanted to “help her” in this situation.
At that time, Habba “poisoned” Bianco’s relationship with her current attorney and “addicted” her until she believed they were friends, pushing her to sign an illegal non-disclosure agreement in exchange for a “trivial” settlement, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit accuses Habba of defrauding Bianco into silence “on behalf of Trump” and states that the settlement left Bianco “afraid to speak about the harassment she experienced for fear of severe and illegal penalties.”
Trump, Melitsar, and Habba are not named as defendants in the case, which targets only the Trump National Golf Club.
Habba and Melitsar did not immediately respond to Forbes’ requests for comment on Thursday, nor did Bianco’s attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, who also represents former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson in her $20 million sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes, the former head of the network.
Main Background
Numerous women have accused Trump and his associates of varying degrees of sexual harassment, although the president has repeatedly denied all allegations against him. A now-famous video released one month before his election as president shows Trump telling television host Billy Bush that famous people “can get away with anything” with women: “I don’t wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do anything… Grab them by the pussy,” he said in the clip. Earlier this year, Trump was found liable for the 1996 rape of advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. Trump’s company and campaign also have a history of using non-disclosure agreements. Hundreds of staffers from Trump’s 2016 campaign were released from wide-ranging and vague non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements described in court, and Trump has received signatures from ex-wives, business partners, and contestants on “The Apprentice” over the years, with varying degrees of success. Many of them were later canceled, including one signed by adult film star Stormy Daniels – who claims she had an affair with Trump – after high-profile legal battles.
The Big Number
$3.5 million. This is the amount that political committees paid to Trump’s legal office on behalf of Habba, according to an ABC News report.
Further Reading
POLITICO Former N.J. Trump golf club worker says she was sexually harassed, forced into signing NDA
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