Edited by: TJVNews.com
Disgraced Hollywood film mogul and producer Harvey Weinstein on Wednesday has announced through his attorneys that he has reached a financial settlement with dozens of women who claim that he molested and sexually abused them. According to an NBC report, Weinstein would be paying out approximately $25 million to compensate those women who allege to be his victims. Weinstein’s case heralded in the “MeToo” movement and raised the issue of women being sexually abused and preyed upon by high powered men in the expansive world of media and entertainment. Moreover, the board of directors of Miramax Films (Weinstein’s bankrupt film studio) have joined in the settlement agreement.
According to an NBC News report, Caitlin Dulany, an actor who accuses Weinstein of having sexually assaulted her during the Cannes Film Festival in 1996, said in an interview with the network that Weinstein, his former associates, directors and officers had negotiated a settlement of almost all the civil cases pending against him for nearly $47 million, about $25 million of which would compensate the women.
Recently, NBC experienced its own share of controversy when former NBC investigative journalist Ronan Farrow released his book, “Catch and Kill” last month which details his efforts to disclose the facts on Weinstein’s abuse of women. Farrow, the biological son of film auteur Woody Allen and Rosemary’s Baby actress Mia Farrow claimed that he has possession of e-mails sent to NBC by Weinstein in which he asks that the sex abuse allegations against him be suppressed and that Farrow not be given an opportunity to expose the filmmaker for his reprehensible behavior.
NBC also reported that under terms of the proposed deal, Weinstein wouldn’t be required to admit to wrongdoing or to pay his accusers directly, according to Dulany and the third woman’s attorney.
Instead, The Weinstein Co.’s insurance companies would be on the hook for $6.2 million that would go to 18 women who have sued Weinstein independently and for $18.5 million that would be set aside as a settlement fund in a class-action lawsuit filed in New York. That fund would be available to all of the class members in the suit even in cases in which statute of limitations have expired, according to NBC.
The NY Times report cited six lawyers in its coverage of the settlement, some of whom spoke about the proposed terms on the condition of anonymity.
More than 30 actresses and former Weinstein employees, who have sued the movie mogul for accusations ranging from sexual misconduct to rape, have agreed to the deal, according to the lawyers.
Aaron Filler, a lawyer for Boardwalk Empire actress Paz de la Huerta, told AFP news agency he expected his client, who accused Weinstein of raping her in 2010, to be part of the settlement.
But as soon as word of the proposal hit the web, some of the parties objected.
“This settlement breaks my heart,” Zoë Brock, a model who was one of the first women to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct, said in a statement.
Actress Katherine Kendall, 50, said she agreed to the terms of the settlement because she did not want to stop other plaintiffs from receiving recompense.
“I don’t love it, but I don’t know how to go after him,” she told the Times. “I don’t know what I can really do.”
