Max Factor heir must pay $20m over rape

CONVICTED rapist and Max Factor heir Andrew Luster has been ordered to pay more than $20m in damages to a woman he drugged and sexually assaulted three years ago.

The plaintiff, listed only as “Tonja Doe”, was one of three women who accused Luster of knocking them out with the date-rape drug GHB and sexually assaulting them at his beach house north west of Los Angeles. The woman lived with Luster for about four months in 2000, according to the civil suit.

California Superior Court Judge Barbara Lane yesterday ordered Luster to pay the woman a total of $20,529,774.

The award included $10m for pain and suffering.

Luster, 39, the great-grandson of the cosmetics legend, was convicted earlier this year in absentia. He was sentenced to 124 years imprisonment and was later caught by a bounty hunter and returned to the US.

Luster’s lawyer, Harold Greenberg, said he had not seen the judgement but said his client would likely appeal. He called the judgement meaningless because he said Luster had spent most of his money on lawyers.

“He was worth a couple million but never as much as people said,” he added.

Another woman, won a $19m judgement earlier this year against Luster. Her lawyer said she was in the process of trying to collect the money.