Former Anti-Flag frontman Justin Sane has been ordered to pay almost $2 million in damages to a girl who alleged that he raped her in 2010, Rolling Stone stories and Pitchfork can verify. The girl, Kristina Sarhadi, filed a lawsuit in opposition to Justin Sane, whose authorized identify is Justin Cathal Geever, in 2023, however the singer by no means responded to the grievance in court docket. Consequently, Decide Brenda Ok. Sannes granted a default judgment in opposition to Justin Sane.
Decide Sannes handed down her ruling on Tuesday, July 22. She awarded Sarhadi $1,170,800 in damages associated to her claims of assault, battery, and sexual battery. She awarded Sarhadi an additional $750,000 in punitive damages. Decide Sannes additionally denied Sarhadi’s movement for default judgment with respect to a declare of intentional infliction of emotional misery. Pitchfork has reached out to Justin Sane and attorneys for Sarhadi for touch upon the judgment.
Sarhadi initially filed her lawsuit in a New York state court docket, underneath New York’s Grownup Survivors Act, however the case was moved to a federal court docket in the beginning of 2024. In her grievance, Sarhadi alleged that Justin Sane “strangled her, pressured her to carry out oral intercourse on him, and raped her” at a motel when she was 21 years outdated.
Sarhadi’s lawsuit arrived months after Anti-Flag’s sudden breakup. Justin Sane’s former bandmates ultimately defined that allegations of sexual assault contributed to the group’s dissolution. Justin Sane denied that he dedicated sexual assault, however quite a few ladies, together with Sarhadi, quickly got here ahead to talk with Rolling Stone about Justin Sane’s allegedly predatory and abusive conduct.
If you happen to or somebody you realize has been affected by sexual assault, we encourage you to achieve out for help:
RAINN Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline
https://www.rainn.org
1 800 656 HOPE (4673)
Disaster Textual content Line
SMS: Textual content “HELLO” or “HOLA” to 741-741
