LYING DOWN WITH PIGS
Twisted tale of how Manhattan DA did biz with firm that was digging up dirt on Weinstein’s sex accuser
A PRIVATE investigative firm that dug up dirt on one of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers has a contract with the Manhattan district attorney’s office that states it can work for clients who may be at odds with the DA.
In the past three years, K2 Intelligence has provided analytical support to the DA’s office for its investigations into public corruption, rackets and cybercrime.
K2, which for years employed Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.’s close friend and campaign adviser Thomas Thacher, signed a contract with the DA’s office in September 2015.
The deal came a few months after Weinstein’s lawyers reportedly hired the investigative firm to dredge up information on Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez and to thwart criminal charges based on her accusations.
Gutierrez accused Weinstein of groping her in late March 2015. At the time, she worked with NYPD investigators to record Weinstein admitting to grabbing her.
Vance’s office declined to prosecute the case in April 2015, stating the recordings didn’t provide enough evidence that a crime was committed.
Five months later, K2 and David Szuchman, then the chief of the DA’s investigation division, inked a letter of engagement in which Vance’s office agreed to pay K2 employees between $250 and $325 an hour for their investigative services.
The DA’s office declined to comment on whether it was aware of K2’s work for Weinstein’s legal team when the contract was signed.
The Sept. 9, 2015, contract allowed K2 to take assignments from clients who are “adverse” to the DA.
“Client understands and agrees that the engagement by client of K2 for a discrete assignment hereunder does not prevent K2 or its affiliated companies from providing services to other clients adverse to client on matters not substantially related to the particular assignment being performed hereunder, provided,” the agreement says under a section headed “Conflicts.”
The contract also states that K2 will not disclose any confidential information it obtains while working for the DA.
Last fall, bombshell exposés in The New Yorker and The New York Times on Gutierrez and other alleged victims of Weinstein prompted several law enforcement agencies to open investigations into the now-disgraced movie mogul.
Vance’s office charged Weinstein on May 25 with rape and sex abuse of two women. The Hollywood horndog is expected to be arraigned on an indictment of the charges in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.
Weinstein’s lawyer has said the two women had consensual encounters with his client.
The Daily News previously reported that Vance’s office has paid K2 at least $550,000 since 2015.
The investigative firm, which was founded by comedian Nick Kroll’s dad and brother, has many ties to the DA. Its executives have donated at least $23,000 to Vance’s campaigns, records show.
One of the company’s biggest donors was Thacher, a longtime friend to Vance who helped vet campaign contributions for the top prosecutor. Thacher died at 71 last fall.
DA spokeswoman Joan Vollero said that K2 employees do not perform any investigative services for the DA’s office. The firm’s analysts utilize sophisticated software and provide computer-programming support on public corruption, rackets and cybercrime cases, she said.
“The two contracted analysts serve an entirely different function from sworn investigators and performed no law enforcement functions,” Vollero said.
However, the DA’s office said that analysts occasionally handle materials that have been or will be presented to a grand jury and are bound to the same confidentiality rules as DA staff.
The DA’s office also said that the 2015 contract with K2 ended in December, but a new contract with the firm was executed in January.
Vollero said that the DA’s office uses K2 analysts because training inhouse staff on the firm’s software would be cost-prohibitive.
She added that K2 contractors did not participate in any cases involving sex crimes or special victims. Vollero also said that the language in the contract, including the conflicts provision, is typical.
“It is generic, normal and commonly used in similar contracts,” she said.
Paula Zirinsky, a spokeswoman for K2, said her firm worked for lawyers representing Weinstein only in 2015.
The firm has done no work for Weinstein or his lawyers since then, she said. She declined to comment on the work performed for the DA.
“We do not comment on client matters,” Zirinsky said.
“It is our practice to maintain the highest ethical standards at all times and to comply with the laws of all of the jurisdictions in which we operate.”