David Sabatini, a scientist once viewed as a potential Nobel Prize contender, has been awarded millions after a Massachusetts jury found that his former colleague defamed him by portraying him as a sexually abusive workplace figure.
The 58-year-old molecular biologist’s celebrated career unraveled in 2021 after Kristin Knouse, 38, accused him of engaging in an inappropriate and abusive affair while she worked in his laboratory.
Knouse and other researchers described Sabatini’s lab as toxic and sexually charged, with the allegations gaining wider attention during the height of the #MeToo movement.
Sabatini was subsequently removed from his high-profile roles at the Whitehead Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, commonly known as MIT.
He filed a civil lawsuit five years ago, arguing that he had been targeted in a deliberate smear campaign. Sabatini alleged that Knouse initiated the campaign after he ended their relationship.
Knouse responded with a countersuit, claiming Sabatini exploited his authority over her and pressured her into what she described as an abusive workplace environment and a non-consensual relationship.
The competing lawsuits were examined during a closely watched three-week civil trial at Boston’s Suffolk Superior Court, which ended on Wednesday.
Two days later, a jury made up of seven women and six men found Knouse liable for $6 million in damages, along with interest. The panel concluded that she defamed Sabatini and damaged his ability to earn a living, the Boston Globe reports.
David Sabatini, 58, was awarded $6 million in Suffolk Superior Court on Friday
The jury, consisting of seven women and six men, found former colleague Kristin Knouse, pictured, liable for defaming him
Sabatini’s departure from MIT and the Whitehead Institute followed an internal investigation that found he had breached the Whitehead Institute’s strict policy on workplace relationships. At the institute, he led his own research laboratory.
The scientists began their relationship in 2018 after meeting at a conference in Washington, DC, where Knouse was preparing to become a Whitehead Fellow.
At the time, Sabatini was mentoring Knouse as she worked toward establishing her own laboratory. Their professional connection grew through their shared interest in molecular biology and scientific research.
Both acknowledge that they had sex at the conference, but their accounts differ sharply. Sabatini testified that the encounter was consensual, while Knouse said she had attempted to resist and was coerced.
During the trial, Sabatini’s lawyers presented messages Knouse sent the following morning that they said showed she had no regrets about the encounter, according to the Globe.
The affair continued for approximately 18 months. The pair told investigators they had sex about 15 times while also maintaining a friendship.
Sabatini said he remained Knouse’s mentor and continued meeting her socially, but believed the dynamic shifted in 2019 when she began seeking a more serious commitment.
Knouse offered a different account, saying Sabatini’s position as her supervisor and his standing in the scientific world left her feeling pressured, used and sexually exploited.
Once considered a future Nobel Prize winner, Sabatini lost his prestigious positions at the Whitehead Institute and MIT after allegations surrounding the relationship emerged
Knouse, pictured in an MIT laboratory, said Sabatini’s authority as her boss and a leading scientist made her feel pressured during their relationship
Their relationship ended in January 2020 when Sabatini told her he wanted to date another scientist, after which Knouse reported him to the Whitehead Institute for alleged misconduct.
Whitehead launched an independent investigation into Sabatini, and in August 2021 he resigned after investigators found he fostered ‘sexist and sexualized work discussions.’
He then resigned from his tenured position at MIT the next year, and he became one of the faces of the #MeToo movement that was gripping the nation at the time.
Sabatini saw his reputation destroyed by the allegations, and reports that he would be hired by New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine in 2022 led hundreds of students to stage a mass protest against the move.
The scientist said he slipped into depression due to the collapse of his professional and private life, and he told the court that he attempted suicide.
Sabatini argued in court that the allegations have cost him almost $2 million between 2020 and 2025, and his attorney argued that he was a victim of an overzealous #MeToo campaign that unjustly condemned him.
Jurors ultimately rejected Knouse’s case completely, finding she defamed Sabatini and ‘interfered with all of his relationships with his then-current employers and potential future employers,’ his attorney, Lisa Arrowood, told the Globe.
Sabatini said he slipped into depression due to the collapse of his professional and private life, and he told the court that he attempted suicide. He is pictured with his moving boxes after he was ousted from MIT
‘We are so happy that we got David Sabatini’s good name back,’ she said. ‘Now he can be regarded as the brilliant scientist he is.’
Sabatini also told The New York Times he hopes the verdict is a step toward regaining his reputation.
‘Before I was judged for having a great lab and for providing great mentoring,’ he said, noting: ‘For the most part, my trainees have been there for me through this.’
‘I hope that I can get back to being judged by my science and my training.’
But just moments after the verdict was read in court on Friday, Knouse and members of her legal team were seen sitting in the empty courtroom crying and embracing one another.
One longtime member of Knouse’s lab, who testified on her behalf, even ‘body checked’ a member of Arrowood’s legal team in the aftermath, the lawyer claimed.
‘I’ve been doing this for 44 years and I’ve never seen anyone react like this,’ she said. ‘It was incredible.’
Knouse (seen in court in December) plans to appeal the verdict, her lawyer said
Knouse’s attorney, Ellen Zucker, said her client now intends to appeal the verdict.
She told the Globe that she and Knouse ‘engaged in this particular legal battle’ because it was the right thing to do. ‘So, we’re not going to stop.’
‘Multiple women came into court to speak about David Sabatini’s conduct towards them,’ she noted. ‘Kristin Knouse testified truthfully about hers.’
Zucker went on to argue that the verdict is ‘unfortunate’ not just for Knouse ‘but for a lot of people… the good women and men who investigated this, who came to court to speak of their experiences and have tried to help move this culture forward.
‘This is a sad day for all of them.’
The lawyer then concluded by declaring that the verdict is symptomatic of a culture that fails to believe women and hold men accountable, comparing it to the situation at Cornell University, where a woman claimed seven men sexually abused her in 2024.
‘We, as a country, have often excused that [conduct that] objectifies, harms women,’ Zucker argued.
‘It does seem to be a symptom of a time where calling individuals to account for their violation of the rules and their failure in basic human decency, it’s still tough to do that.’
