MIT biologist caught demanding rough sex from professor then destroying his career with #MeToo lie breaks her silence… and launches unapologetic new attack

Detailed summary

Kristin Knouse was utterly unrepentant when approached by the Daily Mail this week - and her victim Professor David Sabatini is shocked by her behavior.

Published: 22:54 GMT, 10 November 2026 | Updated: 23:30 GMT, 10 November 2026

Her reputation was shredded after her lies about her consensual relationship with a brilliant professor triggered an enormous #MeToo scandal.

But Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) assistant professor Kristin Knouse remains utterly unrepentant about her treatment of Professor David Sabatini, the cancer researcher whose career she derailed with a false rape allegation after their casual romance ended.

Approached at the MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research in Cambridge on Monday and asked to comment, Knouse, 38, instead chose to attack the man whose life he says she ruined.

'I am the target of a massive smear campaign and getting death threats,' she said confidently, after taking out the earphones she was wearing.

When asked who was smearing her, Knouse said: 'He sent a mob after me, and a lot of your publications are too. I've been getting death threats because of the press that's been circulating. I'm not comfortable speaking to anybody.'

Kristin Knouse is pictured in Boston on Monday. She defamed her former mentor with a #MeToo lie and was ordered to pay him $10 million, but remains unrepentant

When approached by the Daily Mail at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday, Knouse and launched a fresh attack on Professor David Sabatini

Stern words from a woman who owes Sabatini $10 million after she was found liable for defaming him by a Massachusetts court last month. Interest applied to the amount means it is fast increasing.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Daily Mail. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.