1 week Ago By Sumnima Kandangwa
The Oscar nominee once told how he saved Robert Downey Jr’s life when he was filming The Pick-up Artist in the late 80s, but he also struggled with a gambling addiction for years On April 10, a New York jury awarded US$1.68 billion in damages to 40 women who accused writer and director James Toback of sexual abuse and other crimes over a span of 35 years, according to lawyers representing the plaintiffs. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed in Manhattan in 2022 after New York state instituted a one-year window for people to file lawsuits over sexual assault claims even if they took place decades ago.
It marks one of the largest jury awards since the advent of the #MeToo movement, as well as in New York state history, said lawyer Brad Beckworth, of the law firm Nix Patterson LLP, in an interview. The plaintiffs, he said, believe such a large verdict will send a message to powerful individuals “who don’t treat women appropriately”. Advertisement Beckworth said the abuse took place between 1979 and 2014.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"James Toback developed a gambling addiction while working as a university lecturer. Photo: AP","url":"https://img.
i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2025/04/11/109a707c-013d-4ea0-bdee-ae0c3fb8f972_707a675d.jpg"} James Toback developed a gambling addiction while working as a university lecturer.
Photo: AP Toback was nominated for an Oscar for writing 1991’s Bugsy , and his career in Hollywood has spanned more than 40 years. Accusations that he engaged in years of sexual abuse surfaced in late 2017 as the #MeToo movement gained attention. They were first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Toback, 80, who most recently had represented himself, denied numerous times in court documents that he “committed any sexual offence” and that “any sexual encounter or contact between Plaintiffs and Defendant was consensual”. He also argued that New York’s law extending the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases violated his constitutional rights. Here’s everything to know about the disgraced film director: He grew up privileged {"@context":"https://schema.
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com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2025/04/11/8035b36a-654c-41f2-b38a-919d73991098_abb98fad.jpg"} James Toback at HBO’s Summer 2013 TCA Panel at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, in California. Photo: AP.
