- The NYPD is taking seriously Majors' claim that his ex injured him during a dispute, not vice-versa.
- London-based Grace Jabbari can now be arrested if she returns to the US, Insider has learned.
In the latest plot twist in a domestic assault case that has jolted Hollywood, the NYPD now seeks to arrest the ex-girlfriend of Marvel star Jonathan Majors, and charge her with assaulting the actor, Insider has learned.
Acting on an assault complaint filed last week by Majors and first reported by Insider, the NYPD has issued what is called a probable cause "I-card," or "Investigation card," for the London-based woman, Grace Jabbari, according to people with knowledge of the investigation and a copy of the document reviewed by Insider.
The electronic document authorizes police to arrest Jabbari on suspicion of third-degree assault if she returns to the US.
"Mr. Majors has been asking for justice as the victim here, and he deserves to have his assailant arrested and brought to court to face the charges against her," said his defense lawyer, Priya Chaudhry.
Majors remains charged with the same level of misdemeanor assault in connection with the dispute at the center of the case, a physical fight between Jabbari and Majors that happened just after midnight on March 25 on a Chinatown street corner.
Some 11 hours later, Jabbari accused Majors of having twisted her arm, broken her right middle finger, and struck her in the head, causing her right ear to bleed, as they grappled in the street.
Majors was charged with six counts of assaulting and three counts of harassing Jabbari, a movement coach who had worked alongside the star on the set of this year's "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," the film that debuted his portrayal of supervillain "Kang the Conqueror."
Majors, who has pleaded not guilty, has repeatedly countered through his lawyer that it was Jabbari who assaulted Majors as she struggled that night, inside their chauffeured car and on the street, to read texts she believed he'd received on his iPhone from another woman.
The defense lawyer, Chaudhry, shared with Majors' prosecutors detailed photo and video evidence she believes exonerates Majors, according to an April 18 letter to Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Rachel S. Pauley.
Last week, after the Manhattan district attorney's office declined to grant the lawyer's requests to drop the charges or charge Jabbari, Chaudhry and Majors took her evidence directly to police.
On the day after he appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Jabbari's case against him, Majors walked into the Chinatown precinct with Chaudhry and her evidence, the lawyer told Insider Monday.
Majors told police that Jabbari scratched his arm and dug her thumbnail into his face, causing his chin to bleed. He gave investigators time-stamped photographs he took of those injuries, Chaudhry said.
Jabbari injured her own self hours after the street fight, in a drunken fall while she was alone at Majors' penthouse, Chaudhry alleged in her letter the judge.
In reviewing that evidence, and speaking with Majors, NYPD investigators at that precinct and at the nearby precinct that covers Majors' lower Manhattan penthouse, both found probable cause to arrest Jabbari on his assault allegations, according to the lawyer and a law enforcement source.
A spokesperson for district attorney's office declined to comment on the I-card, but told Insider,"Our investigation and case into the assault charges against Mr. Majors remains ongoing."
Efforts to reach Jabbari through her management agency, email and US phone number were not successful. A lawyer for Jabbari did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Majors is known to movie audiences as the critically-acclaimed Marvel supervillain Kang the Conqueror. He also stars as a boxing prodigy in "Creed III," released in theatres in early March.
In the wake of his arrest, the US Army pulled an ad campaign that had featured him, and Marvel has delayed the release dates of two upcoming movies featuring the supervillain character Kang.
"All along, the DA has been insistent that it won't give Mr. Majors special treatment because he is 'high profile,' Chaudhry told Insider.
"Now that the NYPD, who has actually investigated Ms. Jabbari, is ready to arrest her, I certainly hope the DA will not delay prosecution of Ms. Jabbari due to the "high profile" nature of this case."
Any delay would be "hypocritical, unfair, and unjust," the lawyer added.