Accuser’s ‘Hi!’ Harvey after ‘attack’
The second of two remaining sexual assault accusers in Harvey Weinstein’s criminal case contacted him after she said she was attacked — potentially weakening an already faltering case, the former movie mogul’s lawyers revealed Monday.
Weinstein’s team — as part of a bid to toss the entire case — disclosed a 2007 text message from ex-production assistant Mimi Haleyi to the Hollywood heavyweight’s phone in which she expressed interest in connecting with him.
“Hi! Just wondering if u have any news on whether harvey will have time to see me before he leaves?x miriam,” Haleyi texted to Weinstein’s phone Feb. 12, 2007, about seven months after she publicly accused him of forcibly performing oral sex on her.
Haleyi tearfully made the allegation at a press conference last year amid the #MeToo movement, claiming the sexual assault by Weinstein occurred on July 10, 2006. It was her first public statement about the allegation; she had not spoken with investigators.
Weinstein also stands charged with forcibly raping an unidentified woman at a Doubletree Hotel on Lexington Ave. on March 18, 2013. Some 40 flirty and affectionate emails between the woman and the pariah producer — beginning after the date of the purported attack — confirm what his lawyers said was a decade-long consensual relationship.
Last month, prosecutors moved to dismiss one count in the indictment related to Lucia Evans, who was the third accuser in the Manhattan indictment. She was an aspiring actress in 2004 when she says Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex. The charge was tossed after information contradicting her story came to light, and after prosecutors said the lead detective on the case failed to share important interview material from a witness — an Evans pal who was with her when she met Weinstein at a restaurant.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.
Police officials defended the case. “The evidence against Mr. Weinstein is compelling and strong. The NYPD will continue its work with the prosecution to deliver justice for the courageous survivors who have bravely come forward,” NYPD spokesman Phil Walzak said in a statement Monday