Boston Herald

• FOR MORE ON WEINSTEN SCANDAL,

- By RYAN FAUGHNDER

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderm­an has launched a civil rights investigat­ion into the Weinstein Co. following dozens of sexual harassment allegation­s against the studio’s co-founder, Harvey Weinstein.

The state’s top prosecutor issued a subpoena yesterday as part of an investigat­ion into whether officials at the New Yorkbased film and television company violated state civil rights and New York City human rights laws. “No New Yorker should be forced to walk into a workplace ruled by sexual intimidati­on, harassment or fear,” Scheiderma­n said in a statement. “If sexual harassment or discrimina­tion is pervasive at a company, we want to know.”

The attorney general’s subpoena is seeking all documents related to complaints of sexual harassment and other types of discrimina­tion against employees, said a person familiar with the probe not authorized to comment. The probe is also looking for all records of how such complaints were handled by the company, and all documents concerning settlement­s. The subpoena seeks company records related to hiring and casting criteria. The Weinstein Co. did not respond to requests for comment.

The attorney general’s move comes about two weeks after Weinstein Co. fired Weinstein after the publicatio­n of sexual harassment allegation­s.

The subpoena represents a new front in the growing legal battles involving Weinstein and the company he co-founded in 2005, and could expose the Weinstein Co. and its officials to numerous potential civil and criminal cases, said Albany, N.Y.-based attorney Paul DerOhannes­ian, who specialize­s in sexual assault cases. “Once they investigat­e, it opens the door to a multiplici­ty of potential liabilitie­s,” DerOhannes­ian said. “In a way, it’s like a camel’s nose under a tent.”

Police in Los Angeles, New York and London have opened criminal investigat­ions into Weinstein.

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