Courts

Schneiderman Coming For Weinstein, Lawsuit Scuttles Sale Of Company

New civil rights lawsuit brings fresh allegations about Weinstein and his company.

By  
on

Harvey Weinstein (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Eric Schneiderman, who as New York Attorney General has taken the title “regulator of last resort” a little too literally, has sued Harvey Weinstein, his brother Robert Weinstein, and the Weinstein Company in a civil rights lawsuit. From the Washington Post:

Weinstein’s “vicious and exploitative” treatment of employees, coupled with the company’s failure to protect them, presented “egregious violations of New York’s civil rights, human rights, and business laws,” according to the lawsuit, which also names Weinstein’s brother and the studio’s co-founder, Bob…

The investigation into the Weinstein Co. detailed “a years-long gender-based hostile work environment, a pattern of quid pro quo sexual harassment, and routine misuse of corporate resources for unlawful ends” that extended from about 2005 through October 2017.

Weinstein’s “assistants were exposed to and required to facilitate” his “sex life as a condition of employment,” it alleged.

Maybe it’s because of the current administration or just my gut reaction to the Access Hollywood tape that I’ve never gotten over, but I want there to be a reckoning for the enablers. I want all the Billy Bushes of the world to get what’s coming to them too.

Schneiderman’s lawsuit has the important consequences of all but ending the sale of the Weinstein Company to Maria Contreras-Sweet and other investors. Apparently, the people interested in acquiring the Weinstein Company didn’t count on continuing litigation hounding the entity. Which… was dumb of them. Glad Schneiderman could clear that up for him.

If financiers get spooked, Mr. Schneiderman’s move could ultimately kill the proposed deal, putting the Weinstein Company on an almost certain path to bankruptcy.

“Any sale of the Weinstein Company must ensure that victims will be compensated, employees will be protected going forward, and that neither perpetrators nor enablers will be unjustly enriched,” Mr. Schneiderman said in a news release.

Eric Scheiderman does not believe that there is a wrong that his office cannot fix. It’s maddening the way he manages to worm himself into every controversy, and yet feels absolutely necessary. Weinstein can’t just get away with it. Nor all of his enablers. Schneiderman is at least trying.

Sponsored

Weinstein Company Sale Delayed by N.Y. Attorney General Lawsuit [New York Times]
Enabling Harvey Weinstein’s sex life was ‘condition of employment,’ New York attorney general says in lawsuit [Washington Post]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

Sponsored

Topics

, ,