NEW YORK – During Harvey Weinstein’s latest criminal proceedings, two sisters took the stand. Kaja Sokola accused the fallen Hollywood producer of sexual assault, while her sister, Ewa Sokola, was brought in as a witness to support Kaja’s allegations. However, Ewa’s testimony unexpectedly bolstered the defense’s case.

In a new twist, Ewa Sokola is now pursuing a defamation lawsuit against Kaja. Filed on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, the suit claims that Kaja’s public statements are defamatory, tarnishing Ewa’s reputation and hindering her career as a cardiologist in Poland.

Ewa contends that her sister’s alleged falsehoods have subjected her to public disdain, ridicule, and social exclusion in their hometown of Wrocław, Poland, and she is seeking an unspecified amount in damages.

Attempts to obtain comments from Kaja Sokola’s legal team and spokesperson were made on Thursday and Friday, but there was no immediate response.

In a mixed ruling this past June, Weinstein was found guilty of forcibly performing oral sex on Miriam Haley, a film and TV production assistant and producer, but was acquitted of charges tied to Kaja Sokola’s claims of a similar offense. Both incidents were alleged to have occurred in 2006.

The judge declared a mistrial on the final charge, alleging Weinstein raped former actor Jessica Mann, after the jury foreperson declined to deliberate further.

Weinstein has not yet been sentenced as a judge weighs a defense request to throw out the verdict after two jurors told Weinstein’s lawyers that other jurors had bullied them into convicting him. Judge Curtis Farber is expected to rule on Jan. 8.

Kaja Sokola has said her sister’s testimony at Weinstein’s state court trial in New York earlier this year undermined her own testimony that he forced oral sex at a Manhattan hotel just before her 20th birthday.

Weinstein had arranged for Kaja Sokola to be an extra for a day in the film “The Nanny Diaries,” and separately agreed to meet her and Ewa. After they chatted, she testified, Weinstein told her he had a script to show her in his hotel room, and she went up with him. There, she said, Weinstein pushed her onto a bed and assaulted her.

After the trial, Kaja Sokola criticized her sister’s testimony, saying that though she was called as a prosecution witness, she ended up serving Weinstein’s cause by providing his lawyers with a journal in which she wrote about the men who had sexually assaulted her in her life but did not include Weinstein.

According to the lawsuit, Kaja Sokola repeatedly characterized her sister’s testimony as a personal “betrayal” and falsely accused her of omitting journals in which she described what happened with Weinstein.

The lawsuit also said Kaja Sokola had falsely accused Ewa Sokola of homicide, theft, falsification of medical records, sexual impropriety and immoral conduct, and of colluding with Weinstein’s defense team.

The lawsuit said Kaja Sokola’s false claims have cost Ewa Sokola referrals and led to a reduction in patients and employees for her medical practice while damaging her professional reputation and her standing within the medical community.