Six women have filed a lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein, seeking to represent a class of ‘dozens, if not hundreds’ of women who say they were assaulted by the movie mogul.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday at a federal court in New York. It claims that his actions to cover up the assaults amounted to civil racketeering. Racketeering is a crime most commonly used in criminal cases involving crime organizations like the mafia.
The lawsuit claims that a coalition of companies and people became part of the growing ‘Weinstein Sexual Enterprise’ and that they worked with Weinstein to conceal his widespread sexual harassment and assaults.
Harvey Weinstein was hit with a new lawsuit on Wednesday. His lawyer has refused to comment on the new suit
‘The Weinstein Sexual Enterprise had many participants, grew over time as the obfuscation of Weinstein’s conduct became more difficult to conceal,’ the suit said.
Plaintiffs included the scriptwriter and actress Louisette Geiss and the actresses Katherine Kendall, Zoe Brock, Sarah Ann Thomas, Melissa Sagemiller and Nanette Klatt. However, it is open to anyone else who was a Weinstein victim to join.
The Associated Press generally doesn’t name alleged victims of sexual assault without their permission. All of the women have told their stories publicly.
A lawyer for Weinstein declined comment.
According to the lawsuit, actresses and other women in the film industry were lured to industry events, hotel rooms, Weinstein’s home, office meetings or auditions under the pretense that they were to discuss a project.
At least 75 women have come forward in the media to detail accounts of assault, harassment and inappropriate conduct by Weinstein.
Weinstein, 65, is being investigated by police in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, New York and London
Weinstein was ousted from the movie company he founded following a barrage of sexual harassment allegations that began with a bombshell New York Times article in early October. Since then, numerous prominent men in entertainment, business and politics and the media have been hit with allegations of improper behavior with women.
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