Stan Polovets, 60, a founder and chairman of the Genesis Prize, which is considered the "Jewish Nobel" and is awarded annually in cooperation with the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency, was accused of sexual assault last week in New York. A woman, a resident of New York, claims that Polovets drugged her during a date, took her to his apartment in Manhattan and sexually assaulted her while she was not fully conscious. Drug tests performed a day later confirmed the claim that a drug was found in her body.
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The transcript of a message that Polovets sent to the woman two days after the incident is included in the lawsuit submitted to the District Court in Manhattan. In the message, he explained to her that he took her to his apartment after she "drank too much on an empty stomach" during the date, and that he did not want her to take a taxi because he was afraid that the driver might attack her or that she would embarrass herself in front of her young daughter when she got home.
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Stan Polovets, center, pictured with Israel's President Isaac HErzog and 2022 Genesis Prize laureate Dr. Albert Bourla
(Photo: Amos Ben Gershon, GPO)
"You left as soon as you were able to, but not before you fell down on the way to the bathroom because you could not walk," Polovets wrote. "If you don't want to see me again, that's fine. But maybe you can be more mature about it rather than to block [me] or leave without saying goodbye."
In the lawsuit, the woman identified as Jane Doe 1 stated that she met Polovets, separated and a father of three, in the summer of 2021 through a matchmaker. During their second date in December of that year, Polovets invited her to a cocktail bar called Skylark in midtown Manhattan, after the two watched a play together. The woman said that after taking a sip of her second drink, she "suddenly felt confused and began to lose control of her motor functions."
After that, according to the indictment, Polovets took the woman to his apartment even though she said that "she wants to go home and needs to be with her daughter." She claims he stopped her from calling a taxi, took her to his bedroom, removed her clothes, touched and kissed her while she was "still suffering from the effects of drugs."
The day after the incident, the woman performed a drug test which confirmed that benzodiazepines were found in her body, which in high doses cause memory loss, confusion and instability. The woman is seeking "compensation in an amount to be determined at trial" from Polovets and the cocktail bar where she says she was drugged, though according to the lawsuit, his people deleted the security video recording of the incident.
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Stan Polovetz with Genesis Prize laureate Natalie Portman
(Photo: Genesis Prize Foundation, New York)
Polovets' lawyer Mark Bederow denied the allegations completely and said that before the lawsuit was filed and before the police were asked to investigate the incident, the woman's lawyers asked to reach a financial settlement. The police decided not to take action against his client, he said. The New York police have not commented on the incident.
Polovets said that he expects to clear his name and is sure that he will be completely acquitted. The Genesis Prize Foundation said that they expect his name to be cleared and tha"t false accusations of sexual assault injure not only the person falsely accused, but also survivors of sexual assault.".
"The important philanthropic work of The Genesis Prize Foundation will continue without disruption," according to the statement.
Polovets is an American Jewish businessman and philanthropist who was born in Russia, and in 2012 founded with several partners the Genesis Foundation, which gives an annual prize of $1 million dollars to "Jews who have achieved significant success in various fields." The winner of the award for 2023 was the singer and actress Barbra Streisand, and last year it was won by Albert Bourla, CEO of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, for his mobilization for the development of vaccines for against the coronavirus.
In the past, personalities such as Natan Sharansky, director Steven Spielberg, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and violinist Yitzhak Perlman have won the award. The foundation itself also operates in Israel and is registered in the country as a public benefit company. Among the members of the award committee and the board of directors is the founder of Amdocs, Maurice Kahn; the former Knesset minister and Israel Prize laureate Natan Sharansky, retired president of the Supreme Court, Dorit Benesh; former ambassador Dani Danon and Knesset member Yuli Edelstein.