Kennedy nephew accused of sexual assault in lawsuit

SENATOR Edward Kennedy’s nephew William Kennedy Smith, acquitted of rape in Florida in 1991, has been accused of sexually assaulting his former personal assistant five years ago in a lawsuit filed by the woman.

Smith, a 43-year-old doctor, who helped found a global organisation in 1996 that helps the disabled, denied the allegations in the lawsuit filed in Cook County Court on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately my family and my personal history have made me unusually vulnerable to these kinds of allegations,” said a statement released by Smith. An assistant to Smith, Kitty Kurth, told the Chicago Sun-Times the accuser, Audra Soulias, had demanded $3 million not to sue.