Testimony: Weinstein offered movie roles in exchange for threesome

Harvey Weinstein exits following his trial on charges of rape and sexual assault. Photo / AP

Warning: Distressing content.

Harvey Weinstein was faced with yet another accuser at his criminal trial Wednesday - an aspiring actress whose trust he allegedly earned before reaching under her skirt and later offering her a sexual quid pro quo.

Dawn Dunning, 40, was a waitress at a bottle service club in 2004 when she first encountered Weinstein, a powerful movie producer. She was also trying to make it as an actress after moving to New York from Ohio.

"I was familiar with Harvey Weinstein, but I didn't know what he looked like," Dunning testified. "So we started talking and one of the owners came over and he said that's Harvey Weinstein. Be nice to him, basically."

She said she told the movie producer that she was an actress and he took an interest in her: "I got a call from his assistant shortly after that."

He promised her a screen test and extended invitations, she said.

"He brought my fiance at the time and I to Whoopi Goldberg's birthday party. He got us tickets to . . . 'The Producers' on Broadway," Dunning told that jury of seven men and five women.

On one occasion she was invited to a production suite at a hotel in Tribeca.

During a nonsexual conversation "he led me into the other room and I sat next to him on the bed, and I was wearing a skirt that day and he put his hand up my skirt."

He said he was able to get his finger into her vagina "slightly."

"It was like a few seconds but I just kind of froze for a minute and then stood up. He told me not to make a big deal about it, he apologized [and said] it wouldn't happen again," Dunning testified.

She wiped a tear as she struggled to get through the story, telling the jury that she never led Weinstein on.

She said she left the hotel suite a short time after rejecting Weinstein's violent advance. On another occasion, she was summoned to meet Weinstein at an InterContinental Hotel in Manhattan, told that his assistant had contracts for movie parts for her to sign.

When they got there, Weinstein greeted Dunning with an open white bathrobe, she said.

"He kind of just cut to the chase and said here's contracts for my next three films. I'll sign them today if you have a threesome with me and my assistant," Dunning said through tears.

She laughed, thinking it a joke, and it infuriated the producer, who had founded Miramax and the Weinstein Co. Weinstein was responsible for producing a number of Oscar-winning films over decades.

He started screaming at her, she said, telling her she would "never make it in this business." She quickly left.

After that experience, Dunning said, she stopped trying to audition for roles and gave up on her dream.

Tarale Wulff is expected to testify next. She was a waitress at an upscale restaurant when Weinstein allegedly assaulted her.

They are not officially victims in the case but are considered witnesses to support the indicted offenses.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office also plans to call a third supporting accuser, who is the subject of a case against Weinstein in Los Angeles.

Weinstein, 67, faces a minimum of 10 years in prison and up to life on the top counts, predatory sexual assault. Those two counts involve actress Annabella Sciorra, who testified last week that Weinstein raped her in late 1993 or early 1994.

Weinstein's defense attorneys say he has never had a nonconsensual encounter with any of his accusers.

Scores of women have gone public about sexual harassment or sexual assault since a pair of investigative reports in October 2017 gave rise to the #MeToo movement.