A wolf of Wall Street will hav🅘e to pay $18 million for sexually harassing and then trashing online his pretty Swedish underling, a Manhattan jury found Monday.
The federal jury awarded Hanna Bouveng, 25, the payday in h🌌er case against her married ex-boss Benjamin Wey, the 4🍃3-year-old CEO of the billion-dollar New York Global Group.
Bouveng should get 🍎$2 million in compensatory damages over the harassment and defamation, the four-man, four-woma🐭n jury decided, and then heaped on another $16 million for punitive damages.
She testified that Wey pressured her into having sex with him at the luxury Financial District apartment he had re💞nted for her.
W𝓀ey lasted just two minutes during the pair’s first tryst, her lawyer had said in opening statements.
When he later found another man in Bouveng’s bed, he was so furious that We꧋y fired her that day, kicked her out of the a𝄹partment and e-mailed her dad in what would be the beginning of a grimy online campaign against her.
“I saw a 6-foot-tall homeless black man named James lying on 🧸her bed. The man was 🔯totally naked, dirty, totally drunk and perhaps on illegal drugs,” Wey wrote to Bouveng’s father, Nils Sundqvist, in one e-mail entered into evidence.
Wey also꧒ e-mailed her family and friends and called her a “Swedish party girl” and prostitute on his bizarre site, .
Bouveng had also testified that Wey pressured her into sharing🐻 a hotel room him on busines♊s trips
A female juror, asked after the decision if she’d be comfortable spending a night in a hotel ro🧔om with Wey, s📖mirked and said, “No comment!”
“We felt she was hurt in everything ✃that came out on social media and in the media,” the jurorꦜ added.
“We ho🎐pe it will make companies anꦉd individuals think twice before personally defaming someone else.”
Bouveng gave a small smil🔴e to her lawyers as the ju𒉰ry foreman read aloud the first verdict of $2 million.
Even thougꦐh Wey showed up grinning every day of the trial, h𝓡e skipped court for Monday’s expected verdict.
After the jury awarded her $16 million more for punitive damages, Bouveng hugged her ex-boyfriend, nightclub promoter James Chauvet — the man whom Wey🔜 found in her bed.
Jurors were bothered by the trial’s often graphic testꦛimony, the foreman said.
“It was a pretty disturbing tria𓆉l. I think everybody was troubled by the nature of the case,” he said.
The jury did ๊not find that Wey assaulted or battered Bouveng.
The trial included testimony from Wey, his wife, Michaela, Bouveng and Chauvet, whose turn on the stand presented a r𝕴are light moment as he told of the Wall Street exec bar🧸ging in on him and demanding, “Did you f- -k her?” as the naked boyfriend pulled a bedsheet up to his chin.
The sophisticated Bouveng — whose grandfather founded an aluminum company and whose aunt is a member of Swedish parli൲ament — broke down in tears on the stand as she described Wey’s relentless come-ons.
“We went back to the outside of my apartment,𝔉 and he wanted to come up for tea,” she sai🌜d, crying as she recounted how the father-of-three put his arm around her and kissed her neck.
“Then he stood up🅰 and grabbed my hand, and we walked into the b🎃edroom,” she continued.
“And then he started to undress me. And he said he brought a box ♈of condoms. And t🍨hen we laid down to bed and we had sex.”
Bouveng’s lawyer, David Ratner, lambasted Wey for not showing for the ꦛverdict.
“He’s got balls when he’s hiding behind his stu♍pid [blog], but when it comes to facing the juꦡrors, he doesn’t show up,” he said.
“The jury said, yes, she was sexually harassed, yes, she suffered retaliation, yes, she suffered defamation, and they rejected 🎐everything Wey had to say,’’ he said. “She’s ecstatic, and we are very, very pleased.”
Ratner’s firm,♔ Morelli Alters Ratner,, which successfully represent🦩ed comedian Tracy Morgan against Walmart, will collect one-third of the payout.
Bouveng had sued for $850 million.
Wey’s lawyer vowed to keep on fighting.
“Lost in the headlines is the fact that the jury rejected completely Ms. Bouve♈ng’s claims of forced sexual relations,” said the a🤡ttorney, Glenn Colton.
The jury has spoken — the alleged forced events never happened,” Wey attorney Glenn Colton said in a statement.
“Of course, we are disaܫppointed in other aspects of the verdict and plan to pursue post-trial remedies vigorously.”
Additional reporting by Ross Toback