Fashion photographer Terry Richardson, whose career imploded after a slew of sexual assault allegations during the #MeToo movement, was hit with a lawsuit Tuesday from a new accuser.
The Spanish model Minerva Portillo, who was signed to Trump Model Management, alleges that Richardson forced her to perform oral sex on him against her wishes—an alleged assault she claims was photographed and has since circulated, both online and in art auctions.
Portillo alleges the assault occurred in 2004, when she was 22. She filed her lawsuit just days before the window to file under the New York Adult Survivors Act is closed to new suits. She’s calling for a jury trial, compensatory damages, and an injunction that will prevent the further spread of the explicit photos.
Portillo’s accusations are similar to others who spoke out against Richardson in 2017. He stopped working as a photographer the next year and has flown under the radar ever since.
The latest lawsuit alleges that Richardson, now 58, wore only a robe when he first met Portillo to go over her portfolio and talk about a potential collaboration. Portillo said she told her modeling agency that the meeting made her feel uncomfortable, but the agency “dismissed her concerns.”
The lawsuit says Portillo was invited back to Richardson’s New York City studio for a photoshoot a few weeks later, where she alleges she was assaulted in front of as many as nine of Richardson’s employees.
Once Portillo arrived at the studio, the lawsuit says an employee offered her cocaine and a drink. Portillo said she declined the drugs but accepted the beverage, which she believed to have “contained an intoxicating or narcotic substance.”
Portillo said the photoshoot began as usual but, after having photos taken of only her, Richardson joined her on set.
The model said Richardson then groped her breasts without her consent and posed beside her naked. He then got physical with her, Portillo alleged.
“Portillo felt Mr. Richardson press his penis against her lower back and buttocks, behavior to which she had not consented,” the lawsuit says. “Portillo was extremely uncomfortable and tried to move away.”
Moments later, Portillo claimed that Richardson “forcibly inserted his penis into her mouth” and ordered her to give him oral sex as they were photographed. Portillo said she tried to object, but Richardson held her head in place while some staffers who watched were “cheering.”
Richardson’s girlfriend, who is now his wife, also joined in on the explicit acts, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that Portillo could not think clearly, possibly as a result from the mystery drink she’d consumed.
Portillo, who’d just moved to New York from Spain, said she was still disoriented and in shock when she was asked to sign a release for the photos—a document she claims she didn’t fully understand as a non-native English speaker.
The model said she returned for a second shoot the following day, which followed a similar chronology to the first, again ending with her giving Richardson oral sex on camera.
Photos of the scene were soon circling online, and the photos from the alleged assaults appeared in Richardson’s art books Terryworld and Kibosh, and were put on show at the Jeffrey Deitch gallery.
Portillo, who has appeared in magazines like Vogue and Elle, claims the explicit nature of the photos “upended” her career and that her “professional reputation was severely damaged.”
Richardson did not immediately return a request for comment from The Daily Beast. Portillo could not be reached.
Trump Model Management, the now-defunct agency once owned by Donald Trump, was also included in Portillo’s lawsuit, as was his company DJT Holdings. She alleged the agency was negligent after they brushed off her concerns from her initial meeting with Richardson.
Portillo claims that her representatives at the agency told her that Richardson’s behavior was “commonplace,” and that she should overlook it because of his “prominence and influence in the industry.”
The lawsuit is asking for unspecified damages for battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress against Richardson, and for negligence against the Trump companies.
Portillo’s lawsuit came amid an influx of motions filed in New York ahead of the state’s Survivor’s Act deadline. Also the subject of sexual assault allegations this week was the actor Sebastian Chacon, of Daisy Jones & The Six, and Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose.
