Sexual assault allegations against actor Armie Hammer under review by LA County DA

ByChloe Melas, CNN, CNNWire
Monday, April 17, 2023
LA County DA reviewing sexual assault allegations against Armie Hammer
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office is reviewing a case of sexual assault against actor Armie Hammer.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office is reviewing claims of sexual assault made against actor Armie Hammer, CNN has learned.



"I can confirm that the LAPD has presented a case regarding Armie Hammer to the LADA. The matter is currently under review," the office's communications director Tiffiny Blacknell told CNN.



CNN has reached out to Hammer for comment.



While the district attorney's spokesperson did not specify the identity of the complainant or complainants it is known that Hammer has been under investigation for sexual assault since February 2021, after a woman accused him of raping her in 2017.



Hammer has not been charged in the case and has denied any wrongdoing, at the time saying through his attorney that the allegation was "outrageous" and that his interactions with the woman and other partners have been "completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory."



In March 2021, Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred introduced her 24-year-old client, identified only as Effie, who said she was raped by Hammer.



"I am severely traumatized by Armie. I feel disgusted that he's not taking accountability for what he did to me, and that he's resorted to attacking me," Effie said in a statement to CNN on Monday. "Armie has no remorse. He continues to cause pain, and I don't think he's changed at all," the statement read.



Effie, who lived in Europe, said in 2021 that she had an on-and-off romantic and intimate relationship with Hammer from 2016 to 2020. She was 20 when she met Hammer on Facebook, and she "fell in love with him instantly," she said. She claimed Hammer would often test her devotion to him and push her boundaries. As time went on, he allegedly became "increasingly more violent," Effie said.



"He abused me mentally, emotionally and sexually," she said during the news conference at the time.



A woman who says she was in a relationship with Armie Hammer came forward Thursday with brutal allegations of rape and other physical and mental abuse by the actor.


Effie accused Hammer of violently raping her for over four hours in Los Angeles on April 24, 2017. She said he committed acts of violence against her, to which she did not consent, such as allegedly beating her feet with a crop. It hurt for her to walk for the next week, Effie said.



"I thought that he was going to kill me," she said. Effie said she has lived in fear of him and tried to dismiss his actions towards her as a "twisted form of love." Effie said she even lost interest in living because of what she alleges happened to her.



In an interview with Air Mail in February, Hammer said he obtained consent during every stage of his sexual encounters. "Every single thing was discussed beforehand," he says. "I have never thrust this on someone unexpectedly. Never," Hammer said.



Hammer also told Air Mail he had a "very intense and extreme lifestyle."



"I would scoop up these women, bring them into it -- into this whirlwind of travel and sex and drugs and big emotions flying around -- and then as soon as I was done, I'd just drop them off and move on to the next woman, leaving that woman feeling abandoned or used," he told Air Mail.



A recent Discovery+ docuseries "House of Hammer" has brought allegations of sexual abuse by Hammer back into the headlines. Like CNN, Discovery+ is part of Warner Bros. Discovery.



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