James Toback was ordered to pay $1.68 billion following his sexual assault trial in New York.
On Wednesday, the director – who was among the first names levied when the #MeToo movement began back in 2017 – was accused of a decades-long abuse of power in a lawsuit from 40 women. The verdict found Toback responsible for sexual assault, false imprisonment, coercion, and psychological abuse.
“This verdict is about justice. But more importantly, It’s about taking power back from the abusers — and their and enablers — and returning it to those he tried to control and silence,” Brad Beckworth, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said. “Several years ago, when the Me-Too movement began, I think many of us thought that we were past the point where men in positions of power would prey on women and try to steal their dignity and honor in exchange for allowing them to advance in their careers. We now know that the movement didn’t go far enough. We still have a lot of people in this country who abuse their power — and there are many more who turn a blind eye to it.”
Beckworth continued: “Today, a jury from the greater New York Community spoke very clearly and sent a message that reverberates far beyond this courtroom: no one is above accountability. The movement is not over. There is more work to do.”
The six-member jury in the case awarded a total of $280 million in compensatory damages and $1.4 billion for punitive damages to the plaintiffs. The victorious attorneys believe the case could be the biggest sex assault verdict in New York state history.
“This is not just a verdict — it’s validation,” Mary Monahan, a lead plantiff, said. “For decades, I carried this trauma in silence, and today, a jury believed me. Believed us. That changes everything. This verdict is more than a number — it’s a declaration. We are not disposable. We are not liars. We are not collateral damage in someone else’s power trip. The world knows now what we’ve always known: what he did was real. And what we did — standing up, speaking out — was right.
Toback wrote the 1991 film “Bugsy” and both wrote and directed films like “Tyson,” “The Pick-Up Artist” and “Two Guys and a Girl.”
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