Lawsuit Alleges MIT Professor ‘Cured’ Young Women, Run ‘Sexually Accused’ Lab

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Sabatini’s lawyers have denied the new allegations against him.

“David Sabatini, the current scientist, colleague, director and mentor, is nothing like the person described in the recently filed counterclaim, and that will become clear as this case progresses,” his lawyers said in a statement.

MIT and the Whitehead Institute did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Ellen Zucker, a lawyer representing the woman who filed the complaint, declined to comment.

In the October trial, Sabatini said he had consensual sex with his accuser but ended the case in 2019, informing him “on several occasions that he did not want a relationship. long-term”. But she continued to pursue him and eventually “fabricated allegations that Dr Sabatini sexually harassed her (when in fact it was the exact opposite),” according to her trial.

But in her trial, the woman said Sabatini had “treated” her “as a graduate student under his mentorship, inviting her to social events in her lab where the alcohol flowed freely” and where the conversations were “85% sexual. [and] 15% scientists. Before supporting her advancement, Sabatini asked if she was “fun” and sexually available, according to the lawsuit.

Sabatini created “a highly sexualized laboratory environment” where his colleagues discussed sexual exploits and where he tried to engage women in discussions about their sex lives and rewarded those who were willing to flirt with him, according to the lawsuit.

He allegedly sued an undergraduate student working in his lab, offering to pay for a flight and a hotel so he could spend time with her on a trip overseas, according to the lawsuit. In a meeting with another young woman, Sabatini reportedly said he wanted to work on “a project trying to understand why pubic hair is so long”.

The woman who filed the complaint said Sabatini forced her to have sex in 2018 after inviting her to Washington, DC, to meet with her colleagues. In his hotel room, he proposed that they start having casual sex and tried to allay concerns about his influence on his career, court documents show.

“In the end, although she never consented, he did what he wants,” the lawsuit said.

Sabatini’s sexual demands continued, occurring more than 10 times in 2018 and 2019, often expressed in obscene texts, according to the lawsuit. When the woman tried to cut ties with him, he allegedly told her that she was “crazy”.

The woman eventually left the Whitehead Fellows Program two years earlier to get away from Sabatini, court documents show.

When a new director arrived at the Whitehead Institute in 2020, she launched an investigation into sexual harassment, which led to an investigation into Sabatini’s lab. Sabatini is said to have questioned subordinates about their participation in the investigation and investigation and threatened them not to raise their concerns, according to the lawsuit.

In April, the woman told investigators about her experiences with Sabatini and he quickly launched a campaign of retaliation, telling others that she sexually pursued him and embarked on a vendetta when she was rejected, according to him. his trial.

Her lawsuit alleges that Sabatini sexually harassed her, retaliated against her, created a hostile work environment, assaulted her when he forced her to have sex, intentionally attacked her inflicted emotional distress and hampered his career.

He is seeking attorney fees, punitive damages and compensatory damages for the damage to his reputation, his emotional distress and suffering, as well as the payment of his medical bills.

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jeremycfox.

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