On Monday, June 17, a jury recommended that Alkiviades “Alki” David, the founder of Hologram USA, a company known for producing holograms of deceased artists such as Tupac Shakur and Michael Jackson, pay millions of dollars in a sexual assault case. The woman at the center of the case, known as Margarita to PEOPLE, is now speaking up.
After a Los Angeles Superior Court jury found David guilty in a sexual assault case, jurors urged that the millionaire, who is also the heir to the Coca-Cola bottling fortune, pay Margarita $900 million in damages, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE. The proposition has been presented to the judge for a final determination.
Margarita told PEOPLE that hearing the jury’s verdict felt like “a relief of grief after five years.”
“It was the most emotional moment of my life,” she says of learning the judgment. “It was absolutely liberating that the jurors heard my story and to see how my pain and suffering resonated with them.”
Margarita worked for David’s many enterprises, including Filmon TV, Hologram USA, Inc., and SwissX Labs. According to legal filings, she alleged in court that she was subjected to serious sexual harassment and assault, including rape, while working for David from February 2016 until April 2019.
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She also claimed that David’s “office environment” was “alarmingly hostile,” stating there was a room at Hologram USA called “The Rape Room” and that the human resources department door had a “pornographic image” labeled “HER-ASS.” In her lawsuit, she described multiple incidents in which she believed David acted improperly, including an alleged attempt to kiss her during a work trip to his private island in Greece.
She also claimed to have been let off from that employment, but was rehired by David as a brand ambassador for his cannabis production company, Swiss-X, in 2018, according to the site. She claimed that at this time, he invited her to his hotel room to sample a CBD product, which made her inebriated, and then masturbated in front of her, forcing her to touch him.
The woman filed a lawsuit against David, seeking compensation “for sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
“What worries me is that there are more of them [women] out there,” Margarita tells me. “I want women to stand up for their rights and come forward and seek legal representation.”
She went on to say that she was first scared to share her tale for fear of the personal and professional consequences.
“I felt it was something no one should know about,” Margarita said of the alleged attack. “I was going to feel objectified. Everyone will see me as the rape victim. I did not want to be shamed or blamed… I didn’t feel safe saying it in public.
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Margarita, on the other hand, chose to come forward after being pushed by a friend to contact an attorney. She says she has always wanted to be a “inspiration” to other women, and while this is not how she had envisioned it, “if this is the way I can do it, so be it.”
On June 20, David shared a video on Instagram in response to the jury’s ruling. “If you Google my name today, you will discover that there is a $900 million dollar order on my head; however, there is no order. “All these newspapers have got it wrong,” he stated.
He went on to say it’s a “fake proposed order” that “was never delivered to the judge.”
When asked how she feels about David’s denial of wrongdoing, Margarita answers, “It makes me sick to my stomach because he refuses to admit his guilt and wrongdoing.” If he can’t tell right from wrong, he should at least follow the law.
Margarita’s attorney, Gary Dordick, told PEOPLE that “it’s the second largest sexual assault verdict in history, and rightfully so.” The jury proposed $900 million in punitive damages to deter similar incidents in the future. A previous jury gave $50 million, and this panel believed that the message needed to be larger and louder, so perhaps he finally hears it.”
Dordick was alluding to a separate case from 2019, in which jurors found David accountable for sexual violence and harassment of his employee Chasity Jones, as well as unlawfully discharging her. He was sentenced to pay Jones $11.1 million in that lawsuit.
Dordick said that while Margarita awaits the judge’s final decision, he and his client intend to repeat their desire to pursue criminal charges against David.
“He needs to be stopped, and we intend to stop him,” Dordick said.