POLICE REOPEN WEINSTEIN PROBE.
More sex assault accusations name movie mogul
NEW YORK • Police detectives in New York City and London are taking a fresh look into sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein now that some 30 women have accused the Hollywood film producer of inappropriate conduct.
New York Police Department spokesman Peter Donald said Thursday that investigators are reviewing files to see if anyone else reported being assaulted or harassed by him.
London police were also looking into a claim it had received from the Merseyside force in northwest England. Merseyside police said the allegation concerned “an alleged sexual assault in the London area in the 1980s.”
Also on Thursday another star went public with accusations against the media mogul. Kate Beckinsale, the British actress, said Weinstein tried to ply her with drink when she was just 17.
The actress wrote on Instagram: “When I arrived, reception told me to go to his room. He opened the door in his bathrobe.
“I was incredibly naive and young and it did not cross my mind that this older, unattractive man would expect me to have any sexual interest in him. After declining alcohol and announcing that I had school in the morning I left, uneasy but unscathed.” She added: “I said no to him professionally many times over the years — some of which ended up with him screaming at me calling me a c--- and making threats.”
Some 30 women — including Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow — have spoken out recently to say Weinstein had sexually harassed or sexually assaulted them. Weinstein was fired Sunday by The Weinstein Co., a studio he co-founded with his brother.
Some of the allegations involved hotels in Beverly Hills, but police there didn’t return calls. The Los Angeles Police Department has no open investigations.
Weinstein, through a spokeswoman, has denied any nonconsensual sexual conduct with any women.
Detectives in the NYPD’s special victims unit were instructed to identify and speak with any potential victims, including the women who spoke about their encounters with Weinstein in a recent New Yorker article, according to a law enforcement official.
In The New Yorker expose, former actress Lucia Evans said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex in 2004 when she was a student.