Billionaire Trump friend ready to toss lifeline to Weinstein
NEW YORK Billionaire investor Tom Barrack is circling the ultimate distressed asset in Hollywood: the movie studio co-founded by Harvey Weinstein.
Barrack’s private investment firm, Colony Capital, is offering Weinstein Co. a financial lifeline as the studio reels from the widening scandals surrounding its co-founder. In a brief statement Monday, Weinstein Co. said Colony might end up buying its assets.
The small studio, known for award-winners such as The Artist and TV shows such as Project Runway, has been plunged into crisis by allegations of rape and sexual harassment against Weinstein going back to the 1990s.
Weinstein, one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures, has denied the rape allegations while acknowledging his behaviour “caused a lot of pain.”
Barrack, a close friend of U.S. President Donald Trump, made his fortune in real estate but has a history of plucking distressed assets from the entertainment industry. Colony Capital took over Michael Jackson’s Neverland estate in 2008 for US$23.5 million in debt, averting foreclosure, and saved photographer Annie Leibovitz from bankruptcy by buying out her US$24 million of debt. And Colony was part of a group that acquired Harvey Weinstein’s former company, Miramax, in 2010 from Walt Disney Co. for US$660 million.
Barrack, 70, has a net worth of US$1.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index. He was chairman of Trump’s inaugural committee, which lends his talks with Weinstein Co. a certain irony — a deal could financially benefit Harvey Weinstein, who was a longtime Democratic donor who backed Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.