A billionaire media mogul with a string of sexual assault judgements against him has now been ordered to pay $900 million to a former staffer in what is thought to be the largest sexual damages award in history.
Alkiviades ‘Alki’ David was warned ‘never to think of violating another woman’s body’ when former production assistant Mahim Khan won a $58 million sexual battery judgement against him in 2019.
Now an LA jury has ordered David to pay another employee who he is accused of raping the record-breaking sum, her attorney, Gary Dordick, lawyer said on Wednesday.
The woman’s identity has not been revealed.
The court was told that David, 56, had the door to his company’s human resources department emblazoned with a pornographic image captioned ‘HER-ASS’, and that staff referred darkly to one office at his California HQ as the ‘rape room’.
‘This monumental verdict marks a significant triumph for justice and sets a precedent in the fight against workplace sexual assault,’ Dordick said.
Alkiviades ‘Alki’ David was ordered to pay $900 million by a Los Angeles jury on Monday after he was accused of raping another employee
David (pictured with ex-wife Jennifer Stano in 2011) is the heir to a international Coca-Cola bottling empire and founder of Hologram USA
David, the heir to the international Coca Cola bottling empire, was best known for his hologram company which has created 3D animated avatars of dead performers including Tupac and Michael Jackson.
He was accused of inflicting ‘severe sexual harassment and assault, including rape’ on the former model, referred to in court as Jane Doe, from February 2016 to April 2019.
Soon after joining, a female colleague warned her about the ‘alarmingly hostile’ workplace environment reporting that David had forcibly kissed her, the lawsuit claimed.
Weeks later Doe rebuffed his attempt to kiss her during a work trip to his private island in Greece, and found herself laid off shortly afterwards.
But in 2018 he was back in touch to offer her a job as brand ambassador for his cannabis manufacturing company, Swiss-X.
Staffer Lauren Reeves was awarded $5 million for assault in a case against David that brought up the first mention of his corporate ‘rape room’
Former production assistant Mahim Khan (pictured right with lawyer Gloria Allred) warned him against ‘violating’ another woman when she was awarded $58 million in 2019
The suit claimed that after agreeing, he took her back to a hotel room where he persuaded her to sample the product before forcing her to touch his penis.
The following April she was called to a business meeting in a small room where he raped her in front of one of his Doberman pinschers.
‘It’s so despicable, the facts of this case,’ Dordick said. ‘He raped my client while on trial in another case.’
By then the mogul had already lost $80million in a series of judgements for sexual assaults dating back to 2014.
He settled two cases out of court in 2016 but was ordered to pay $5million to former staffer Lauren Reeves who claimed he put his hands on her throat and pushed her chair into a wall.
That case also featured references to the ‘rape room’ and her claim that he told her he needed to ‘buy supplies’ for it.
In April 2019 he was ordered to pay punitive damages of $8 million to a woman who claimed she was sacked after she refused to have sex with him.
David was accused of inflicting ‘severe sexual harassment and assault, including rape’ on the former model, referred to in court as Jane Doe, from February 2016 to April 2019
In September that year the judge declared a mistrial when a jury could not reach agreement on a claim brought by former FilmOn account executive Elizabeth Taylor.
But that December that year he faced his biggest penalty yet when another jury awarded $58 million to Khan who was represented in court by high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred.
Khan claimed that David had thrust his pelvis into her face and simulated oral sex, rubbed her vagina, frequently grabbed her pelvic area, peppered her with unwanted kisses, given her a lap dance in front of a client, and put his hands under her dress to cup her breasts.
She testified that at times David would also pull his pants down, grab her by the neck and shove her into his crotch.
‘I hope the punitive damages verdict sends a message to Alki David to never, ever think of violating another woman’s body,’ she said in a statement after the trial.
His company owns the Hologram USA Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard where its 3-D avatars of dead performers including Michael Jackson and Tupac are animated for a paying audience
Lawyer Gary Dordick said Monday’s ‘monumental verdict marks a significant triumph for justice and sets a precedent in the fight against workplace sexual assault’
David denied all claims of sexual misconduct, saying, ‘I never touched any of these women,’ remaining defiant and disruptive throughout his multiple 2019 trials in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
He frequently erupted in profanity-laced outbursts while mocking his accusers and their attorneys, earning him nearly $10,000 in sanctions and removal from the courtroom on several occasions.
That year also saw him arrested in St Kitts after he flew in with a reported 5,000 cannabis plants on his private plane.
‘They’ve completely exhausted me of my cash resources,’ David said of his accusers to The Daily Beast in 2021.
‘Fortunately, I’ve got a great mother, God bless her, who’s been very supportive of me.’
The Sunday Times annual Rich List puts his current wealth at $3.7 billion, much of it deriving from his wealthy Cypriot family, but David has claimed that media estimates of his fortune are wildly exaggerated.
‘These f***ing idiots,’ he said. ‘They have nothing, nothing at all. There are no billions.’
Monday’s unanimous verdict, in front of Judge Christopher L. Lui, includes $100 million in compensatory damages and $800 million in punitive damages
‘The significance of this verdict cannot be overstated,’ Dordick said.
‘Prior to this case, juries had awarded over $80 million against David for similar allegations, highlighting a disturbing pattern of abuse and exploitation.
‘This landmark verdict underscores the critical importance of holding perpetrators of sexual assault accountable, regardless of their wealth or status.
‘It not only delivers justice to Jane Doe but also sends a powerful message to all victims of sexual assault: your voice matters, and justice is within reach.’