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Meg Whitman’s Son, Griffith Harsh V, Accused of Sexual Assault of Princeton Classmate Report

Alex Constantine - November 13, 2010

By Corky Siemaszko
NY DAILY NEWS | October 25th 2010

160x120 custom 1261131929978 meggriffwill1 - Meg Whitman’s Son, Griffith Harsh V, Accused of Sexual Assault of Princeton ClassmateFailed California GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and accused rapist son

Former eBay honcho Meg Whitman, who [vied]  to become California's next governor, was grappling Monday with a damaging report that her oldest son was accused of raping a Princeton classmate four years ago.

Griffith Harsh was hauled before a Princeton disciplinary board after the woman claimed she woke up with a black eye, a bruised face - and Whitman's son on top of her.

"He was like, 'You need the morning-after pill,'" the woman's friend told Gawker.com, which broke the story. "And she was like, 'Why, what happened?' She didn't remember having sex, she didn't remember consenting, she didn't remember any of it."

Harsh admitted he and his accuser had been drinking but insisted the sex was consensual. He blamed her injuries on an accidental fall.

"If I'm to be branded a rapist, for the rest of my life then there should be some evidence of it," Harsh said in 2006 statement that was obtained by Gawker.com.

Harsh's accuser, however, was reluctant to press charges because Whitman gave Princeton $30 million to build a college that bears her name and she feared "social repercussions," the woman's friend told Gawker.

"She didn't want to press charges because it's Meg Whitman's son," the friend said. "She didn't want to go through that. She didn't go to the police. She didn't get a rape kit."

The Princeton committee decided there wasn't enough evidence to expel Harsh, who took a year-long leave of absence and wound up graduating last year.

Gawker reported that it reached Harsh's accuser and she declined to revisit the alleged incident.

Harsh got into trouble before with Princeton in 2005 when as a 20-year-old he got caught trying to buy booze with a phony ID, according to Gawker.

Also, Harsh was arrested shortly after the rape accusation in California after he allegedly broke a woman's ankle during a bar brawl, according a Palo Alto police report.

Whitman bailed her son out of jail and the felony battery charge was eventually dropped for reasons unclear.

Harsh, who is now 25 and lives in Colorado, could not be reached for comment.

There was also no immediate comment from the campaign of Whitman, a Republican locked in a bitter battle with Democrat Jerry Brown.

Whitman has spent millions of her personal fortune in her gubernatorial bid and has enlisted high-profile pols like Mayor Bloomberg to campaign for her.

But Brown leads Whitman in most polls. And Whitman has been branded a hypocrite for fulminating against "illegal workers" on the campaign trail while employing an undocumented woman in her household for many years.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/10/25/2010-10-25_meg_whitmans_son_griffith_harsh_v_accused_of_sexual_assault_of_princeton_classma.html#ixzz15C5BiKFc

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