Weinstein has ‘paid ex-Mossad spies to dig dirt on his accusers’
HARVEY Weinstein allegedly hired ex-Mossad agents and an “army of spies” to dig into the lives of actresses and journalists he feared would expose sex abuse claims against him. Invoices appear to show he agreed to pay $600,000 – £457,000 – for information that would stop the press publishing allegations of rape, abuse or harassment against him. The claims in an article by Ronan Farrow in the New Yorker magazine were denied by a Weinstein representative.
Farrow alleges that among the security agencies Weinstein, 65, began hiring in 2016, was Black Cube, which is largely run by former officers of Israeli intelligence agencies, including Mossad. Farrow said: “The explicit goal of the investigations, laid out in one contract with Black Cube, signed in July, was to stop the publication of the abuse allegations against Weinstein.”
Weinstein is also alleged to have used the Kroll and PSOPS agencies.
The report claims that two Black Cube investigators met the actress Rose McGowan, 44, who later publicly accused Weinstein of rape, to get information. Farrow claims one of the investigators pretended to be a women’s rights advocate and secretly recorded at least four meetings with McGowan.
The same agent also spoke to reporters to try to find out their sources.
Weinstein or the agencies allegedly also hired their own journalists to interview alleged victims. One focused
on actress Rosanna Arquette, 58, one of his accusers, and her social media posts about sexual abuse, her family history with molestation and sexual assault, and friendship with McGowan.
Several reporters who were probing allegations made against Weinstein had their personal lives looked into, including profiles of their ex-wives, to try to find information to discredit them. Emails from Kroll’s Dan Karson to Weinstein revealed they had targeted Adam Moss, the editor-inchief of New York Magazine, and New York Times reporter Benjamin Wallace.
Karson wrote: “No adverse information about Adam Moss so far.” He also sent a profile of Wallace, detailing a libel case against him.
Weinstein is also alleged to have duped an ex-employee into providing a list of old colleagues who would consider contributing to a book about the “good old days” at his company Miramax, then forced her to call them to see who had spoken to the press.
Weinstein, who was yesterday expelled for life by the organisers of the Emmy Awards, “unequivocally denies” all claims of non-consensual sex. He has been accused by more than 50 women on both sides of the Atlantic leading to police investigations in London, New York and LA.
Scotland Yard has had a complaint from a woman who alleges Weinstein sexually assaulted her outside of Britain in 1991. She is the eighth person to make a complaint against him to British police.