A woman who won $58.25 million in a lawsuit accusing a billionaire hologram producer of groping and sexually harassing her met with Beverly Hills police Monday in an effort to spur a criminal investigation against him.
Mahim Khan, 36, and her attorney, Gloria Allred, began the process of filing a police report, accusing producer Alki David of sexual battery.
"One witness testified (in the civil case) that she observed Mr. David come up behind Ms. Khan, put his hand between her legs and grab her vagina," Allred told reporters.
David, who has vehemently denied any wrongdoing against Khan and other women who have accused him of harassment, called the move a "stunt" and a "huge mistake."
"I expected these criminals -- who were caught lying and cheating during the trial -- to screw up now that they've been emboldened by this broken and biased legal system, but I didn't expect them to set themselves up in such a stupid way," David said in a statement. "Now we're that much closer to exposing them."
He said Allred and her daughter, civil-rights attorney Lisa Bloom, "are desperate to avoid the truth coming out about their clients' linked schemes to extort me, their fabricated evidence and the gaping holes in their stories."
Allred told reporters at the Beverly Hills Police Department headquarters that Khan began filing out a police report, but the process was taking longer than expected because of the volume of allegations.
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"More evidence needs to be provided for a criminal case because in a criminal case it is the burden of the prosecutor to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," she said. "That's slightly more evidence than is required in a civil case."
During trial of the civil lawsuit, Khan attorney Nathan Goldberg told jurors that David routinely groped Khan's private parts and breasts, made moaning sounds of pleasure and then walked away and laughed. David also would often drop his pants and shorts and twist his lower body to make it appear he had the genitals of a woman rather than a man, Goldberg told the jury.
David represented himself during the earlier stages of the trial, but the judge stripped him of that right and limited the defense he could present after he made repeated outbursts in court in violation of her orders to refrain from lashing out at Khan and her attorneys and to cease commenting about the case in front of the jury.
After the jury reached its verdict, David said, "How is it justice if I'm not allowed to present any defense at all? No witnesses. No evidence."
David denied any wrongdoing concerning Khan, who was hired in October 2014 and quit about a year later.
"I'll say it again to all of you, as I was prevented from saying in court, I never touched Mahim Khan inappropriately," David said. "I never sexually harassed her."
The Khan verdict came just over a month after 36-year-old Lauren Reeves won more than $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages against David in another sexual harassment case.
In April, 42-year-old Chasity Jones was awarded $11 million in compensatory and punitive damages against David. She later agreed to a reduction of about $445,000 after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rafael Ongkeko found the amount of out-of-pocket damages awarded her was excessive.
On Sept. 3, Judge Christopher Lui declared a mistrial in the case of Jones' co-plaintiff, 32-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, after jurors deadlocked 8-4 in favor of David.
David was behind the hologram technology that brought slain rapper Tupac Shakur to Coachella in 2012 and saw the late Michael Jackson moonwalk at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards.
On Monday, David challenged Khan to publicly take a lie-detector test about her allegations.
"Let's do it live on TV," he said. "I have nothing to hide, do you, (Khan)?"
