Law Firms Aided Weinstein's 'Sexual Enterprise,' Lawsuit Claims
It's not like we told you so, but we did say nondisclosure agreements make Weinsteins possible.
Now six women have sued Harvey Weinstein for civil racketeering and hiring lawyers "to prevent, hinder and avoid the prosecution, reporting, or disclosure of his sexual misconduct."
In the immortal words of Uncle Buck to a terrified teenager, "Is there a little similarity there?"
We Think So
In their class action, the actresses say Weinstein lured hundreds of women to the proverbial "casting couch" ostensibly to help their careers. In reality, they allege, he tried to engage them in unwanted sexual conduct, including "flashing, groping, fondling, harassing, battering, false imprisonment, sexual assault, attempted rape and/or completed rape."
The complaint, filed in federal court in New York, says several lawyers and law firms were part of an enterprise to protect Weinstein in his sexual torts. Boies Schiller Flexner; K&L Gates; BCL Burton Copeland; and Gross, Klatthandler, Hodak, Halevy, Greenberg & Company are listed but not named as defendants.
The ABA Journal reported that Boies Schiller has denied the allegations about the firm. However, David Boies previously said he hired an investigations firm called "Black Cube" to stop publication of a negative article about Weinstein.
Led by Black Cube's staff of former Israeli spies, The New Yorker called them Weinstein's "Army of Spies."
"We Should Not Have"
Boies told the magazine that his firm hired the investigators, who used false identities and other strategies to collect information about the women and report to Weinstein. Boies said he did not know how the agency would operate.
"We should not have been contracting with and paying investigators that we did not select and direct," he said. "At the time, it seemed a reasonable accommodation for a client, but it was not thought through, and that was my mistake. It was a mistake at the time."
In the meantime, the plaintiffs' attorney in the class action are using the information in their case. In any case, this is not a movie -- yet.
Related Resources:
- Suit Accuses Harvey Weinstein of Racketeering, Says Law Firms Aided 'Sexual Enterprise' (ABA Journal)
- How Nondisclosure Agreements Make Weinsteins Possible (FindLaw's In House)
- How to Convince Clients Not to Pursue Revenge via the Courts (FindLaw's Strategist)