A Suffolk County jury on Friday awarded $6 million in damages to ousted star scientist and former MIT professor David Sabatini, whose career imploded after he was accused by a much younger colleague of inappropriate sexual conduct in his Cambridge research lab.
The verdict was a stark rejection of a high-profile #MeToo claim from Kristin Knouse, a fellow scientist who said Sabatini had subjected her to a coercive relationship and fostered a hostile and sexualized workplace environment in his lab at the world-renowned Whitehead Institute.
The jury of seven women and six men directed Knouse — who had brought her own suit against Sabatini — to pay the $6 million verdict, plus interest, finding she had defamed him and interfered with his ability to make a living.
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