• Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. accused of raping woman in 2013

Cuba Gooding Jr., 55, has reached a settlement with the woman who accused him of raping her at a New York hotel in 2013. The settlement came shortly before the trial began in Federal Court in New York. The actor has insisted through his lawyers that the encounter with the woman was consensual after the two met at a restaurant.

The trial was to begin on Tuesday with the selection of the jury, since the star of Jerry Maguire, winner of the Oscar, faced the accusations of the alleged victim, who reported that after meeting the actor in a restaurant in the neighborhood of Greenwich Village, in New York, he invited her to have a drink at the hotel where he was staying.

According to the complaint, once they arrived at the Mercer Hotel, the interpreter proposed to go up to her room to change clothes, to which she agreed, but once there he prevented her from leaving when the situation was uncomfortable. "(Gooding) put on the music (Mumford & Sons to be specific) and it was placed between her and the door of the room. Then he began to take off his clothes, "says the text of the complaint, which indicates that it was then that the actor pushed her to the bed while she tried to reach the exit. After grabbing the victim's hands behind her back, he raped her, despite the woman "saying 'no' on numerous occasions."

With graphic details, the complaint details that Gooding raped the complainant a second time after she tried to leave the room again when he was in the bathroom.

The woman had proceeded anonymously until last week, when Judge Paul A. Crotty ruled she would have to reveal her name at trial. The actor's lawyers insisted it was consensual sex and that she later bragged to others that she had had sex with a celebrity.

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Cuba Gooding Jr. Avoids Jail After Pleading Guilty to One of the Charges

  • Editor: GTRES

Cuba Gooding Jr. Avoids Jail After Pleading Guilty to One of the Charges

The woman's lawyers were seeking six million dollars in compensation. One of them, Gloria Allred, has refused to comment on the last-minute deal.

It's not the only lawsuit against the actor, who has also been accused of sexual misconduct against 30 other women, including groping, unwanted kissing and other inappropriate acts.

The actor, after being arrested in 2019.GTRES

Late last week, the judge appeared to strengthen the woman's argument at trial and in settlement negotiations by ruling that he would allow three women to testify that they were also subjected to sexual assault or attempted sexual assault after meeting Gooding in social settings such as festivals, bars, nightclubs and restaurants.

One of the women who had planned to testify at the trial was Kelsey Harbert, who told police that Gooding groped her breasts without her consent at a New York bar in 2019. The actor pleaded guilty in New York state court to a charge that saved him from jail. Harnert, however, was "very disappointed" that she was unable to present her case in court.

Gooding, star of films such as The Neighborhood Boys and Radio, was allowed to plead guilty in April 2022 to a misdemeanor after admitting he forcibly kissed a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018.

By remaining on behavioral and alcohol counseling for six months he was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea and plead guilty instead to a non-criminal harassment offense, expunging his criminal record and avoiding further penalties.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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