Woman wins $18m in sex harassment case

A Swedish woman who made lurid allegations of sexual conquest, betrayal and stalking against her former Wall Street executive boss was awarded $18 million by a federal jury on Monday.

Hanna Bouveng, 25, accused Benjamin Wey of using his power as owner of New York Global Group to coerce her into four sexual encounters before firing her after discovering she had a boyfriend.

Her lawsuit had demanded $850 million.

The Manhattan jury awarded her $2 million in compensatory damages plus $16 million in punitive damages on sexual harassment, retaliation and defamation claims. It rejected a claim of assault and battery.

Bouveng, who was raised in Vetlanda, Sweden, testified that soon after Wey hired her at New York Global Group, the CEO began a relentless quest to have sex with her. She says he fired her six months later after she refused any more sexual contact, and he subsequently found a man in her bed in the apartment he helped finance.

Wey, 43, sought to undercut Bouveng by posting articles on his blog accusing her of being a street walker, a loose woman and an extortionist, her lawyers say.

Last year, Wey walked into a Stockholm cafe where Bouveng was working a few months after she was fired from Global Group, attorney David Ratner told jurors. The message was 'Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, I am going to find you, and I am going to get you, Ratner said.

The married financier denied ever having sex with Bouveng. He portrayed her as an opportunist who bragged that her grandfather was the billionaire founder of an aluminum company when Wey first met her in the Hamptons in July 2013.

Wey testified that Bouveng knew nothing about finance before he hired and began mentoring her. He claimed she betrayed his generosity by embracing a party-girl lifestyle that left her too exhausted to succeed.

According to its website, New York Global Group is a US and Asia-based advisory, venture capital and private equity investment group with access to about $1 billion in capital.

(China Daily 07/01/2015 page12)