Convicted Rapist Ordered to Pay $20 Million to Victim

A judge Thursday ordered convicted rapist Andrew Luster to pay more than $20 million in damages to a woman he drugged and raped seven years ago after meeting her at a popular college bar in Santa Barbara.

In her 16-page ruling, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Barbara Lane ordered Luster, 39, the great-grandson of cosmetics legend Max Factor, to pay $500,000 in economic damages, $10 million for pain and suffering and $10 million in punitive damages to a 30-year-old victim identified in court as Tonja Doe.

Doe, an ex-girlfriend of Luster, said she was unaware she had been raped until detectives investigating an unrelated sex assault showed her a videotape of the incident.

“The court finds that Tonja Doe’s testimony to be credible and worthy of belief that she never knew of and never consented to Andrew Luster’s sexual relations with her that first night and that she never consented to his videotaping sex acts with her,” Lane wrote.

Doe, who has since married and become a mother, said she was happy the court understood “how horrifying it all was.” She has asked that her real name not be publicized.

For her, the ruling is not so much about money as about having her day in court, she said.

“It’s just the whole principle of me telling him he just can’t get away with it,” she said shortly before a news conference she and her lawyers had called to announce the ruling.

Luster’s attorney, Harold Greenberg, said he was still reviewing the decision, but said he believed he had grounds for an appeal.

“I think the ruling is erroneous,” Greenberg said. “It’s bad law. My client is not the most popular man in Ventura County. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon, but this is pure emotion.”

In her ruling, Lane said Luster’s conduct toward Doe warranted substantial damages.

Lane called the videotape, found during a search of Luster’s home, evidence that Luster had raped, assaulted, sexually battered and defrauded Doe. The 30-minute tape shows Luster engaging in various sex acts with Doe as she lies unconscious on his bed.

“On that original videotape, this court observed a nude Andrew Luster filming himself, providing salacious commentary, subjecting Tonja Doe, who is unconscious and undressed from the breasts down, to multiple acts of rape and sexual abuse,” Lane wrote. “That original videotape shows perverted and dangerous acts that placed the plaintiff Tonja Doe in jeopardy of grievous bodily injury.”

Los Angeles attorney Bill Daniels, who represents Doe, called the decision a significant victory for his client.

“It is a substantial amount of money and we’ll seek to recover on it vigorously,” said Daniels, who described Luster at trial as a spoiled playboy who deserved to lose money as well as freedom.

Daniels, however, acknowledged that it could be difficult, if not impossible, to collect the judgment.

“It’s not about collecting the money,” Daniels said. “It’s about letting the victims have their day in court, have their case heard and have the system say this is wrong. Rich men should not be able to use women as their playground.”

Lane is the second jurist to slam Luster with a multimillion-dollar verdict following his conviction on multiple rape charges involving three women.

On Aug. 15, a judge ordered Luster to pay $19 million to a 23-year-old woman identified as Shawna Doe.

Greenberg said his client is not rich and cannot possibly pay that much.