A Swedish-born beauty claims a Wall Street financier who specializes in Chinese corporate mergers is so obsessed with ruining her reputation since she slapped him a $850 million sexual-harassment suit last week that he’s resorted to spreading lies about her being a “party girl,” drug-and-alcohol addict on Facebook and other social media sites.
Hanna Bouveng, who sued her “virulent sexual harasser and stalker” ex-boss Benjamin Wey on July 21 alleging he “trapped” her into a bedroom merger, filed a sworn affidavit in Manhattan federal court two days later claiming Wey has since made it “clear” to her friends and family that they’ll “suffer consequences” if they serve as her witnesses at trial. “Mr. Wey’s messages have had their intended impact,” she said. “My family is extremely concerned about my safety. They would like me to return to Sweden and live.”
Bouveng, 24, also claims the 42-year-old CEO of New York Global Communications retaliated after being sued by posting photos of her and others on Facebook and then tagging Bouveng and her friends and family with intimidating messages.
Bouveng’s lawyer David Ratner on Friday submitted to the court as evidence various social media postings allegedly by Wey, including one on Facebook of an unknown woman snorting cocaine off another woman’s breast with the caption, “We do not accept extortion from anyone … Terminated #alcoholic Hanna Bouveng.”
Bouveng is seeking a injunction preventing future alleged harassment through social media , emails and texts by Wey and against her, her family and friends Judge Paul Gardephe has agreed to hold a hearing Friday to decide on the request.
Bouveng in her deposition says the married Wey is “old enough to be [her] father” and that his “sexual harassment culminated in his forcing” her “to have sexual relations with him.”
Bouveng, a former model, worked as the Wey’s director of corporate communications for less than a year before being fired in April. She claims the CEO insisted on buying her “tight skirts” and “low-cut shirts” to wear at the office and repeatedly creeped her out by making lewd sexual advances and remarks.
Her suit alleges she felt “trapped” into having sex with Wey in December 2013 after he got her drunk.
In her sworn deposition, Bouveng says she rejected further advances and that Wey retaliated by spreading “false rumors” about her having a lust of illegal drugs and alcohol, a venereal disease, and shacking up with a drug dealer. Bouveng also claims Wey lied about her being a “party girl” to potential employers and her family in Sweden, including her father and an aunt, Helena Bouveng, who is a prominent Swedish parliament member.
Although her family wants her to drop the suit because they think Wey is “mentally unstable,” Bouveng says she plans to move ahead with the litigation. However, she’ll soon be leaving the US – at least temporarily — because she’s “fearful” of Mr. Wey,” the deposition notes.
“I am convinced [Wey] will not be satisfied until I drop my lawsuit, am driven out of Wall Street, and am unable to afford to live in New York,” she says.
Wey, as The Post previously reported, was the subject of a well-publicized January 2012 FBI raid at his Manhattan offices, although he was never charged with any crimes. He did not return messages.