When Harvey Weinstein found out he was about to be exposed as a serial sexual predator, he embarked on a mission to find out who had spoken to the press, insiders claim.
In a piece for Vanity Fair, Adam Ciralsky reveals how a frantic Weinstein reportedly tried to wipe company computers of documents and hired private investigators to go through staff emails.
He also allegedly tasked his own vice president of human resources with removing company personnel files, including information about a former personal assistant who has accused him of sexual harassment.
Fight back: After finding out about the allegations which were about to be made against him, Harvey Weinstein, pictured in October, started trying to find out who had spoken to the press
The story broke on October 5 with a New York Times piece, and has since been followed up with accusations from dozens of women in the film and television industry who claim to have been sexually assaulted or harassed by Harvey Weinstein.
However, ‘Harvey’s concern was who did him in, not what he had done.’ Nicole Quenqua, The Weinstein Company’s head of publicity told the magazine.
He reportedly told her: ‘Somebody is giving The New York Times everything. They’re giving them my drivers’ phone numbers. My entire address book. . . . They’re calling people from my past. They’re calling people in Italy. They’re just calling everyone.’
According to the magazine, Weinstein’s vice president of human resources, Frank Gil, is being accused of removing portions of the company’s personnel files, including ‘all material from 2016 and 2017’ and the information on a former PA to Weinstein, Sandeep Rehal, who has sued the company and Weinstein for sexual discrimination and harassment.
A spokesman for Mr Gil told Vanity Fair that he denies any wrongdoing.
Allegations: Several people at The Weinstein Company’s headquarters in New York City were reportedly tasked with helping the movie mogul get rid of possibly incriminating documents
Two days before the New York Times story was published, Weinstein allegedly ordered staff to delete a document called ‘HW friends’ from the company’s servers which had ‘a list of 63 women broken down by location: New York, Los Angeles, the United Kingdom, and Cannes, France’.
It is not known why Weinstein wanted this list of women’s names deleted.
In January this year, executives at The Weinstein Company were informed that their boss had hired an investigative firm to get into the company’s email system in order to find out who on the inside might have spoken to reporters about him.
One top executive told Vanity Fair; ‘It was upsetting to discover that Harvey may have arranged to get access to our internal communications.’
The Vanity Fair accusations comes just days after his ex-wife attempted to enforce Weinstein to pay the next six years of child support in advance as she fears he may not be able to afford in a near future.
Accusers: Since October, dozens of women, including actresses Rose McGowan and Salma Hayek, have come forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual assault or harassment
Lawyers for Eve Chilton, Weinstein’s first wife and the mother of his three older daughters, stated in court filings that she had made the decision to undergo enforcement proceedings to secure the $5million in child support she will be owed until 2024
Ms Chilton’s decision to file papers in New York Supreme Court was made after a lawyer for Weinstein allegedly told that the disgraced movie mogul would likely be unable to pay child support for at least one year.
That was said to be the result of Weinstein spending much of his fortune to fight back against over 100 allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Weinstein has so far denied all claims of non-consensual sex.
In the end, Ms Chilton’s motion was ruled out as Weinstein is currently up to date on child support payments.
Weinstein settled his divorce with second wife Georgina Chapman less than a week ago, with the two expected to file papers later this month.
That agreement will also require Weinstein to pay child support for his two children with Chapman.