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Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein was hit with a new lawsuit Thursday from four anonymous women who say he sexually abused them over the last four decades — including a victim who says she was just 17 at the time. The Manhattan Supreme Court filing accuses the imprisoned ex-producer of using his power to entice women …
Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein was hit with a new lawsuit Thursday from four anonymous women who say he sexually abused them over the last four decades — including a victim who says she was just 17 at the time.
The Manhattan Supreme Court filing accuses the imprisoned ex-producer of using his power to entice women into compromising situations and to force himself on them.
The suit also names as defendants Weinstein’s brother, Robert Weinstein; Miramax; and Disney, which bought Miramax in 1993. The filing alleges that the defendants were aware of Weinstein’s sexual misconduct and actively concealed it.
A 43-year-old Tennessee woman says that she was just 17 when Weinstein lured her to his New York hotel room for a business meeting, in 1994, and told her she’d have to “sexually gratify him” if she wanted an acting gig. He allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him then raped her, according to court papers.
He allegedly said if she told anyone, he’d “physically harm her and her family,” the suit alleges.
Since she was underage at the time, her allegations fall under the Child Victims Act, which temporarily lifts the statute of limitations for civil claims for child sexual abuse.
A 70-year-old Ecuadorian woman charges that Weinstein, 68, attacked her in 1984 at the Cannes Film Festival. She was 34 and was trying to break into the film industry as a documentarian.
Under the guise of discussing her project, he took her back to his room at the Hotel Barriere Le Majestic Cannes and allegedly “pinned her against the suite’s front door, jammed his tongue into her mouth and fondled her breasts and vagina,” the suit alleges.
She managed to break free and sprinted to the room of a friend who worked for Weinstein. He urged her to keep quiet or risk being blackballed in the industry, the court filing states.
A 38-year-old woman says that she was 26 when Weinstein spotted her at Manhattan’s Cipriani restaurant in 2008 and promised to “help take her career to the next level.”
A few days later Weinstein invited her to his Soho apartment for a “business meeting” where he allegedly raped her. He told her if she told anyone what he’d done “he would ruin her career and come after her,” the suit alleges.
A 35-year-old Hungarian woman says she met Weinstein when she was 26 at the 2013 Venice Film Festival.
A few months later, she went to his office for an audition then to his hotel suite, where he allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him. The suit doesn’t specify the city that the assault took place in.
Weinstein’s spokesman Juda Engelmayer declined to comment on the lawsuit, which seeks monetary damages for an unspecified amount.
In March, Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison after a Manhattan jury found him guilty of forcibly performing oral sex on former “Project Runway” staffer Miriam “Mimi” Haleyi in 2006 and raping hairstylist Jessica Mann in 2013.
More than 100 women have accused the fallen Tinseltown tycoon of harassment and sexual misconduct.
He is currently locked up at Wende Correctional Facility in upstate New York but is expected to be extradited to Los Angeles in the coming months to face another sex crimes case.
