James Deen’s Adult Company Under Investigation, Performer Holly Jee Speaks Out

James Deen’s adult company is under investigation amidst the sexual assault allegations that are continuing to surface on the internet.

The California Watchdog agency announced that it would investigate James Deen’s production company after 10 women have accused the adult star of sexual assault and/or rape. Most of these allegations have occurred both on and off the movie set. State Division of Occupational Safety and Health spokesperson Julia Bernstein told the Chicago Tribune that the investigation began Tuesday, Dec. 8, and could last up to six months. She claimed that investigators received complaints about Deen’s adult company, but would not give details on which alleged workplace safety was violated.

In addition, OHSA has been told to keep mum about who filed the workplace complaint, but Michael Weinstein of the AID Healthcare Foundation said it was his organization who complained. Weinstein is known for requiring the use of condoms in adult movies in Los Angeles County. He said that his organization has accused James Deen Productions of ignoring that requirement after reviewing several of his recent films. Weinstein claims that the workplace safety complaint was made well after the sexual assault allegations surfaced.

“James Deen could now be cited for workplace violence in addition to health and safety violations.”

Deen, 29, whose real name is Bryan Sevilla, has denied the allegations, both on social media and in a recent interview with The Daily Beast. He also claims that he hasn’t been investigated for a crime, nor sued by any of his accusers. Deen also said that he’s not planning to sue any of the women for defamation of character.

“I have no desire to blame people who consider themselves victims or throw stones. I will just say this: my job as a performer for rough sex companies is to engage in certain acts. If at any point I pushed boundaries past the point of comfort, I am sorry. I have always tried to respect peoples’ limits and safe words and operated within that space. If someone expressed anything to me I honored the request with the fullest care.”

But the accusations just keep coming out. Former adult actress Holly Jee claims that Deen choked her to the point of unconsciousness. The performer is the 10th women to come forward with allegations of sexual assault against the 29-year-old actor. Jee, who worked under the name Miss Genocide, told LAist that Deen choked her when she worked on her first adult film. The incident occurred in 2009, when she and Deen were alone in an apartment shooting a POV – or point-of-view – scene for Burning Angel.

While Deen filmed the movie with one hand, he reached down and started choking Jee with his other hand. Though the actress claims that the move — called “breath play” — is common in porn, she said that Deen was out line when he didn’t warn her and attempted to cut off her breathing.

“He put the camera down and choked me until my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I passed out for a couple of seconds. It was only a few seconds, but I had never experienced anything like that. And to put the camera down, and to do that and not warn me? I was scared to bring it up. I’ve never done this before and James appeared to be this big commodity in the adult industry, so I didn’t want to be blacklisted.”

That’s not all that happened. Holly recalled the time after James Deen’s former girlfriend, Joanna Angel, returned to the set, he immediately verbally abused her for giving him the wrong sandwich. Just a day before, he threw his girlfriend’s phone across the room, while everyone looked in shock and horror.

Fellow adult actor Brian Kendrick, who goes by the name Brian Street Team, wrote on his personal Tumblr blog that he noticed that Deen was “overtly mean” to Angel many times. Kendrick added that he found it impossible to become friends with the actor, and called him a “cold-hearted socipathic.”

Joanna Angel was also one of the women who came out and claimed that Deen held her head under water until she thought she was going to die.

As for Jee, she’s glad to see that other adult production companies like Kink and Evil Angel have since released Deen. She also hopes that other women will come forward and that Deen seeks psychiatric help for his anger issues.

[Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Maserati]