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An aspiring photographer claims she was sexually assaulted by then-New York City mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg’s top media strategist at the billionaire businessman’s campaign headquarters during his 2001 run for local office.
The alleged assault came just three days after 9/11, according to a bombshell lawsuit filed Monday by Massachusetts resident Petra Christina Beter, who says she was still shellshocked from snapping pics at Ground Zero when well-known Democratic operative Duane Baughman suddenly attacked her in a break room.
“As [Beter] bent down to look for the Coke at the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, Defendant Baughman suddenly came behind [her], grabbed [her] head and pushed his crotch into the right side of her face,” Beter’s complaint states. “[Beter] felt Baughman’s penis push into her face, close to her mouth. Baughman pushed [Beter’s] head toward him like he wanted her to perform oral sex and said, ‘You want it.’”