BOSTON — A Boston jury has awarded former MIT biology professor Dr. David Sabatini $6 million after finding that a former colleague, Dr. Kristin Knouse, defamed him. The verdict came years after her sexual misconduct allegations cost the renowned scientist his lab, his job, and his reputation.
The jury’s verdict was announced on Oct. 16 after a three-week trial. Sabatini had sued Knouse for defamation and that she wrongly interfered with his job and his future career opportunities, according to court documents. Knouse filed a counterclaim accusing Sabatini of sexual harassment, creating a sexualized hostile environment and retaliation. The jury rejected her counterclaims.
“I lost everything. There was nothing left of my normal life,” Sabatini told 25 Investigates’ reporter Ted Daniel in his first on-camera interview since the verdict.
A leading scientist’s fall
For about 24 years, Sabatini led a research lab at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, which is affiliated with MIT. His work focused on cell biology and its connections to cancer, aging, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. His breakthroughs once made him a potential contender for the Nobel Prize.
His downfall began in 2020, when Knouse, an early career postdoctoral researcher at the Whitehead, accused him of sexual misconduct and harassment. She claimed Sabatini coerced her into a sexual relationship that lasted more than a year. Arguing before the Supreme Judicial Court, Knouse’s attorney, Ellen Zucker, said Sabatini had sex with Knouse while she was a student and “continued having sex with her in a way that made her uncomfortable.”
As the inquiry widened, others raised concerns about boundaries in Sabatini’s lab. Investigations by the Whitehead and MIT concluded he broke policies and fostered a sexualized atmosphere in the workplace. He lost his position in 2021.
On TikTok and across social media, Sabatini was labeled a “predator,” an “abuser,” and a “creepy dirtbag.” When New York University considered hiring him in 2022, students and faculty protested, chanting, “What do we want? Safety!” NYU did not offer him a job.
“It was horrible,” Sabatini said. “‘Rapists roaming the halls of MIT’ was basically what was said.”
The other side of the story
Sabatini’s sued Knouse over the accusations and his firing. In court, Sabatini and his legal team, led by Lisa G. Arrowood, argued the relationship was consensual. They also presented evidence they said showed Knouse had become jealous of another woman Sabatini was interested in and had sought to have him fired.
“She took what to me was very apparent from all our messages, a fully consensual relationship,” Sabatini said. “She converted that into a coercive relationship, which then you can also sort of see the escalation of that to claims as horrible as rape, and then sexual assault.”
Text messages entered as evidence show some of the exchanges between the two. On Jan. 5, 2020, Knouse wrote that she would “fixate on how I’m being held as a backup and competed against other women,” adding that the anxiety was “not healthy for me, my science, or our relationship.” On Jan. 17, after Sabatini told her he had kissed another woman, Knouse replied, “I’ll be honest and say it definitely hurts to validate some of my anxieties in light of our closeness and discussions over the past few weeks.”
In a video deposition, attorney Arrowood questioned Knouse about other messages. Knouse confirmed that she had written, “I know what I want, and I go after it.” Asked about a message in which she wrote about visiting Sabatini’s hotel room late at night during a work retreat, “In hindsight, it was quite aggressive, #hetoo,” Knouse said she “was just making a joke about how I was being forward in that moment.”
Knouse also admitted in the deposition that she selected which text messages to provide to investigators and that she coordinated with people at MIT who raised concerns about Sabatini. She acknowledged that she did not give at least one exchange to investigators from the law firm Hinckley Allen. “I was trying to make my own judgments about what was relevant,” she said.
Documents from the case show Knouse called her campaign against Sabatini “Covert Operation Dethrone.” In one message, she joked about buying a “Lambo” if she won a settlement.
In an April 15, 2021, exchange entered as a trial exhibit, Knouse and a friend discussed consequences for Sabatini. After the other woman wrote, “He doesn’t deserve all the power he has,” Knouse responded, “He should have none.” Knouse then wrote, “My lawyer straight up told MIT ‘you have a rapist on your faculty.’” The other woman replied that she had also called him that during a meeting.
‘The only way to clear my name’
Faced with the evidence, the jury rejected Knouse’s counterclaims and signed a verdict slip awarding Sabatini $6 million. Sabatini said he had hoped MIT would review the full record prior to forcing his resignation. “I said look, you need to get all the documents,” he said. “They did none of that.”
“It became clear that the only way to clear my name was to have a victory such as the one we’ve had,” he said.
Whitehead stands by its investigation
In a statement shared by a spokesperson for the Whitehead Institute, the institute’s Board of Directors said it “has full confidence in the leadership of Director Ruth Lehmann, the Institute’s workplace policies and the process that included the 2021 investigation into Sabatini’s lab, which was conducted by an independent law firm.”
“Whitehead Institute was not a party to the lawsuit between David Sabatini and Kristin Knouse,” the board said. “All claims made by Sabatini against Whitehead had previously been dismissed by the Court.”
Boston 25 News requested an interview with Knouse and/or a written statement. Her attorney did not respond to emails.
Sabatini now splits his time between Boston and Prague, where his labs are based.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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