A Suffolk County jury has awarded former MIT biology professor Dr. David Sabatini $6 million in damages after finding that a former colleague defamed him with sexual misconduct allegations that cost him his career.
The verdict, handed down Friday, closes out a five-year legal fight between Sabatini and Dr. Kristin Knouse, a younger scientist who worked alongside him at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge. Sabatini had led a research lab there for about 24 years, studying cell biology’s links to neurodegenerative disease, diabetes, aging and cancer.
Sabatini and Knouse met in 2012 and began a sexual relationship in 2018 that ended the following year, according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital. Knouse later alleged the relationship had been coerced. An internal Whitehead Institute investigation found that Sabatini had also fostered a sexualized atmosphere in his lab, and he resigned from the institute in 2021.
Sabatini then sued Knouse for defamation and tortious interference. She countersued, alleging sexual harassment. Throughout the trial, Sabatini maintained the relationship had been consensual and that he never created an improper environment in his lab.
His attorney, Lisa Arrowood, pointed to text messages between the two as evidence the relationship was mutual. In one 2020 message, Knouse wrote that she was
