Ex-staffer sues leading mayoral candidate for sexual assault and a year of harassment

A leading candidate for mayor in the upcoming North Miami elections, Councilman Philippe Bien-Aime, is being sued by a former staffer for sexual assault, battery, false imprisonment and emotional distress.

Janice Antoine filed the lawsuit in a Miami-Dade Circuit Court Tuesday, alleging that in 2016, Bien-Aime had driven her to “an isolated warehouse area” in Doral and sexually assaulted her.

At the time of the alleged assault, Antoine was a temporary staffer in city hall and Bien-Aime was the city councilman for District 3. (He still holds that position.) Bien-Aime denies her allegations.

The lawsuit echoes a previous suit filed by Antoine against the city in September 2018, accusing the city of terminating her employment as retaliation for reporting harassment, gender discrimination, and denying Bien-Aime sex. In the previous complaint, she claimed she was first denied a full-time position, and then her part-time position was terminated, as a result of her accusations.

Originally, that suit had also named Bien-Aime but was amended in January to exclude his name.

“We all need to have zero tolerance for sexual assault and hold sexual predators accountable no matter who they are or how long it takes,” said attorney Michael Pizzi who, along with attorney Douglas Jeffrey, filed the lawsuits on Antoine’s behalf.

“Nobody is above the law,” Pizzi continued.

Bien-Aime told the Miami Herald that Antoine never worked for him directly and was never under his supervision.

“The allegations made against me are fabricated and untrue,” Bien-Aime said Tuesday. “The rule of law is on my side.”

In an email to the Miami Herald in September, the city denied the claim that Antoine was ever terminated, stating her temporary contract had simply expired in September 2018 as normal. The city has moved to have that case dismissed.

In addition to allegations of ongoing harassment, both lawsuits detail an incident in fall 2016 in which Bien-Aime allegedly sexually assaulted Antoine, just a few months after Antoine started as a part-time temporary worker in city hall.

On the day of the assault, Antoine claims she had been told to accompany Bien-Aime on a personal trip to help him deliver an election check. During the trip, the councilman parked in an isolated industrial area in Doral, and wouldn’t allow Antoine to get out of the car, according to the complaint.

While they were parked, Antoine claims Bien-Aime talked about her body and told her he wanted to have sex with her. He “touched her lap, and repeatedly tried to touch other body parts against her will,” according to the complaint. When she denied his repeated advances for sex, she said Bien-Aime drove them both back to city hall.

Antoine did not file a police report nor did she immediately report what happened to her.

“Antoine was ashamed, humiliated, embarrassed and afraid, like most sexual assault victims,” according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday. “Bien-Aime was a powerful commissioner and she needed her income from her job at the city, and career advancement to support her family.”

In addition to the alleged assault in Doral, Antoine claims that between Fall 2016 and late 2017, she experienced almost daily harassment from Bien-Aime including dozens of phone calls to her personal cellphone. According to the suit, the councilman made repeated efforts to have sex with her and even “demanded sex in exchange for the full-time job she needed and wanted with the city.”

Though she didn’t work directly for Bien-Aime, according to the lawsuit, she often assisted him when his own staffer was out of town.

“I will stand up against those lies to protect my reputation, my family, and our great City of North Miami,” Bien-Aime said. “Soon or later the truth will come out.”

This latest lawsuit was filed within months of an upcoming election in North Miami in which Bien-Aime, still the councilman for District 3, is a popular mayoral candidate with significant financial backing. By the end of December 2018, Bien-Aime had raised nearly $100,000 in contributions from individuals and business — more than three times the amount raised by his closest competitor, Mac-kinley Lauriston, according to financial contribution filings.

“The message is that no matter how powerful you are, nobody can get away with abusing females without paying dire consequences,” said Pizzi.

This story was originally published February 6, 2019 at 6:00 AM.