New York attorney general files lawsuit against Weinstein

TOM MCELROY

Associated Press

NEW YORK — New York’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Sunday against disgraced Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Co. following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

“As alleged in our complaint, The Weinstein Company repeatedly broke New York law by failing to protect its employees from pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation, and discrimination,” state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in court papers.

Schneiderman launched a civil rights probe into the New York City-based company in October after The New York Times and The New Yorker exposed allegations of sexual assault and harassment spanning decades.

Scores of women, including well-known actresses, have come forward with stories of forced sexual encounters. Weinstein was fired by the film company he founded with his brother Robert and expelled from Hollywood’s movie academy.

“To work for Harvey Weinstein was to work under a persistent barrage of gender-based obscenities, vulgar name-calling, sexualized interactions, threats of violence, and a workplace general hostile to women,” according to court papers.

Schneiderman’s investigation found that employees were subjected to various verbal threats from Weinstein such as “I will kill you, I will kill your family, and “you don’t know what I can do.”

In one case, the probe found that “in a fit of rage against one female employee, he yelled that she should leave the company and make babies since that was all she was good for.”

Female executives were forced to facilitate Weinstein’s sexual conquests with promises of employment opportunities to women who met his favor, according to the lawsuit, which also accused the company of being “responsible for the unlawful conduct” by failing to stop the abuse.