‘SUPPORTS’ WIFE’S DECISION TO LEAVE
MANHATTAN DISTRICT Attorney Cy Vance Jr.’s review of his Harvey Weinstein sexual assault probe: good intentions, bad evidence.
The embattled prosecutor insisted Wednesday that the 2015 case against the horny Hollywood honcho disappeared only because of his top sex crime prosecutor’s belief that the charges were not provable.
“If we had a case that we felt we could prosecute and my experts felt we could prosecute against Harvey Weinstein, we would have,” said Vance, now running for a third term.
“We take on many, many, many difficult sex crime prosecutions with individuals irrespective of their background or their money so that’s not an issue for us.”
Vance, in his first public comments since the Weinstein sex scandal broke last week, acknowledged that his decision not to prosecute Weinstein for allegedly assaulting model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez looked bad — particularly in hindsight.
She accused Weinstein of groping her inside his Tribeca office, grabbing her breasts and slipping a hand under her skirt.
Yet Vance’s office took less than two weeks before letting Weinstein walk.
The NYPD felt there was enough proof to prosecute after Gutierrez (inset) wore a wire to record Weinstein corroborating her version of the alleged assault.
“I, like they, was very disturbed by the contents of the tape,” Vance said. “It’s obviously sickening. But at the end of the day we operate in a courtroom of law, not the court of public opinion.”
Though multimillionaire Weinstein was a major Democratic campaign donor, backing both President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Vance flatly said money meant nothing when making prosecutorial decisions.
He also came under fire recently for dropping an investigation into President Trump’s children Ivanka and Donald Jr.
Marc Kasowitz, the President’s longtime personal attorney, met with Vance in May 2012 before the prosecutor opted not to bring charges against the siblings in a case involving the Trump SoHo project.
Seven months later, as Vance was preparing his 2013 reelection run, Kasowitz made a $31,000 campaign contribution.
“Nothing that Marc ever contributed nor anyone else ever contributed had the slightest impact on my decision-making,” the prosecutor said.