Las Vegas Review-Journal

Women sue Weinstein, board members

Lawsuit: Racketeeri­ng enabled sexual assaults

- By Larry Neumeister The Associated Press

NEWYORK— Six women sued Harvey Weinstein and men who served on the board of his film company Wednesday, accusing them of functionin­g like an organized crime group that used agents, producers and others to prey on young women seeking a break in a breakneck industry.

The racketeeri­ng lawsuit in federal court in New York sought to represent “dozens, if not hundreds” of women who say they were assaulted by Weinstein after being isolated in close quarters such as a hotel room after bystanders were sent away.

Lawyers for the women say Weinstein used his company to supply himself with a steady stream of victims, and to cover up his misbehavio­r — an effort they dubbed the “Weinstein Sexual Enterprise.”

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecifie­d damages, mirrored one filed in Los Angeles last month that did not identify plaintiffs by name.

It said the “proverbial ‘casting couch’ was Harvey Weinstein’s office of choice” in an arrangemen­t condoned by defendants Miramax LLC, The Weinstein Co. Holdings LLC. It said the companies had a duty to stop Weinstein from groping, harassing or assaulting women seeking employment in their films.

A Weinstein lawyer declined comment Thursday, but Weinstein’s representa­tives forwarded a statement saying Weinstein “has never at any time committed an act of sexual assault, and it is wrong and irresponsi­ble to conflate claims of impolitic behavior or consensual sexual contact later regretted, with an untrue claim of criminal conduct.”

“There is a wide canyon between mere allegation and truth, and we are confident that any sober calculatio­n of the facts will prove no legal wrongdoing occurred. Nonetheles­s, to those offended by Mr. Weinstein’s behavior, he remains deeply apologetic,” it said.

Other defendants in the suit included 11 current or former board members of the Weinstein Co., including Robert Weinstein, Dirk

Ziff, Tim Sarnoff, Marc Lasry, Tarak Ben Ammar, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsber­g, Paul Tudor Jones, Jeff Sackman and James Dolan, the owner of the New York Knicks.

The lawsuit said each was personally aware of Weinstein’s conduct toward women, though it offered no specific evidence to back up that claim.

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Harvey Weinstein

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