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Disgraced British author Neil Gaiman has been accused of human trafficking under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in a lawsuit filed in US federal court by Scarlett Pavlovich, who earlier came forth with accusations of sexual assault against him, Vulture reported.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act intends to curtail crimes of trafficking in the United States and abroad.

The lawsuit also accused the Coraline author of sexual abuse, assault, rape, and coercion. Gaiman has previously denied all accusations of nonconsensual sexual activity.

According to Vulture, the suit also named Amanda Palmer, Gaiman’s former spouse, and accused her of ‘procuring’ Pavlovich for Gaiman and not informing her about his alleged history of sexual misconduct.

The alleged abuse occurred in New Zealand in 2022, but Pavlovich’s lawyers filed the lawsuit in Wisconsin, where Gaiman owns a home. Pavlovich is simultaneously filing a suit against Palmer in New York and Massachusetts, where she has residency, and will proceed against Palmer in the district of her choosing.

The lawsuit stated that Palmer “knowingly recruited Scarlett to come to Waiheke with the intention of obtaining Scarlett’s uncompensated labour.”

While working for the couple as a babysitter, Pavlovich alleged that Gaiman raped her several times. “She was, in effect, an economic hostage to Palmer and Gaiman,” the suit stated.

Gaiman’s alleged misconduct towards Pavlovich, the complaint said, was “intended to coerce sexual services and free childcare from Scarlett by causing her to believe that if she did not perform such labour and services, she would suffer serious harm or physical restraint.”

The lawsuit maintained that Palmer was aware of Gaiman’s history and “recklessly disregarded the reality that defendant Gaiman would so coerce Scarlett.” The complaint also detailed the lawyer’s reasoning for accusing Palmer of negligence, the publication reported.

“Palmer was sufficiently aware that Gaiman was likely to target Scarlett that she warned Gaiman to stay away from Scarlett before she brought Scarlett to Gaiman’s house as a babysitter,” the lawsuit said.

“Yet Palmer never warned Scarlett of the known danger posed by Gaiman. Had Palmer warned Scarlett of the known danger posed by Gaiman, Scarlett would never have agreed to babysit Palmer’s child at Gaiman’s house.”

According to the complaint, Pavlovich is entitled to damages in a sum that would be decided at the trial, but is “reasonably believed to be in excess of $1,000,000, including, without limitation, damages to physical well-being, emotional and psychological damages, past and future economic losses, past and future physical impairment damages including but not limited to PTSD, anxiety, and depression of which are physical impairments of the brain, loss of career opportunities, together with punitive damages.”

Pavlovich had not been paid for her babysitting services by the couple and later signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). She was paid $9,200 in nine separate payments for her work.

In January, Pavlovich was one of the multiple women who accused Gaiman of sexual assault in a New York Magazine cover story, months after initial allegations emerged against him.

The article, titled ‘There Is No Safe Word: How the best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades’, was the first time a major news organisation confirmed the full extent of the reporting after Tortoise Media broke the news that Gaiman was accused of sexual assault in a six-part podcast titled Master.

In the podcast, several women used only their first names or pseudonyms to protect themselves, however, they revealed their identities for the New York Magazine story, Variety reported.

Pavlovich met Gaiman’s ex-wife American singer Amanda Palmer in New Zealand and soon agreed to babysit the couple’s five-year-old child. According to Pavlovich, the author repeatedly sexually assaulted her as she continued to work for the couple, and the assault started from their first meeting.

Gaiman denies allegations

Last month after the story broke, Gaiman denied the accusations, insisting he had never had non-consensual sex with anyone, AFP reported.

“I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever,” Gaiman wrote on his website.

“As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen,” he added.

He maintained that reading back over messages he had exchanged with the women involved, he believed they reflected “two people enjoying entirely consensual sexual relationships and wanting to see one another again.”

“I was obviously careless with people’s hearts and feelings, and that’s something that I really, deeply regret. It was selfish of me.”

Author dropped by publisher

Dark Horse Comins, one of Gaiman’s publishers, dropped the author amid the allegations, the Associated Press reported. His name was removed from the publisher’s website, which for years handled his speaking appearances.

Dark Horse Comics stated on X (formerly Twitter) that it would no longer release its illustrated series based on Gaiman’s novel, Anansi Boys.

“Dark Horse takes seriously the allegations against Neil Gaiman and we are no longer publishing his works,” the statement from Dark Horse read.

Netflix, who adapted Gaiman’s The Sandman series, announced that the upcoming second season of the show will be the final season. However, Variety confirmed that the second season was intended to be the last prior to filming in 2023.

Additionally, following the allegations, Gaiman departed Amazon’s upcoming final season of Good Omens, the television adaptation of his book, and development was paused on a movie based on his The Graveyard Book at Disney.