'I will kill you': New York lawyer 'forced teen to strip have sex with him during interview'
A New York lawyer allegedly forced a teenage girl to strip down and have sex with him during an interview for a receptionist job at a high-level law firm.
Denisse Villalta, 21, has filed a lawsuit against lawyer Sunny Barkats claiming he forced her to have sex with him during an interview, a Manhattan Federal Court heard.
The lawsuit also states that during the interview he told her “she now belonged to him and that she would be required to have a threesome with him and his wife."
Villalta was just 19-years-old at the time and claims she only took the job because she was young and had no money.
“I was really young,” she told NY Daily News.
“I didn’t really understand much.”
During Villalta's first day at the JS Barkats PLLC offices in Manhattan, Barkats allegedly forced her to have sex with him again and “began to forcefully choke and threaten” her, according to the lawsuit.
She recalls Barkats telling her:“ ‘If I catch you with someone else, I will kill you. You belong to me’. ”
The lawyer who deems himself as being a “top corporate and securities attorney” reportedly gave the Brooklyn teen promotions, gifts and an apartment if she was “obedient.”
On Villalta's second day, she alleges the 42-year-old lawyer told her to go and get tested for sexually transmitted diseases in order to keep her job.
En route to get tested, Villalta said she never returned which then prompted a series of threatening text messages from Barkats, one of which showed him holding a steak knife.
But the Manhattan lawyer denies Villalta’s charges and says the whole situation is “ludacris".
“It’s completely ridiculous, but you know, justice will be served and we’ll go all the way with that,” he told the publication.
“This is complete b------!”
He claims Villalta is his brother-in-law’s ex-girlfriend and he is now “looking to settle a score."
Villalta’s lawyers from Borrelli & Associates, PLLC, said the young woman had never heard of Barkats prior to the interview and claim they are seeking unspecified damages.
“Quid pro quo sexual harassment is blatantly illegal,” her lawyer said.
“No woman of any age entering the workforce, let alone a 19-year-old, should have to endure what our client did.”
Barkats was previously sued by ex-client Lil’ Kim in 2013 after he alleged he tricked her into bad licensing agreements.
News break – April 15
