Another high-powered attorney has left Harvey Weinstein’s legal team, it was learned on Saturday
Another high-powered attorney has left Harvey Weinstein’s legal team, it was learned on Saturday.
Charles Harder has cut ties with the movie mogul who has been accused of sexual misconduct by close to 30 women.
Three women have accused Weinstein of rape.
The news of Harder’s departure was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter.
CNN reported on Sunday that another famous defense lawyer, David Boies, has also bowed out of Weinstein’s legal team.
No reason was given for their departures.
Harder is best known as the lawyer who represented former wrestler Hulk Hogan in his lawsuit that resulted in the collapse of the gossip-news site Gawker.
In 2012, Gawker published a sex tape of Hogan, prompting him to sue for invasion of privacy.
Charles Harder (right) has cut ties with Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by close to 30 women. Harder is best known as the lawyer who represented former wrestler Hulk Hogan (left) in his lawsuit that resulted in the collapse of news site Gawker
Hogan’s legal fees were paid for by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who sought revenge against Gawker for outing him as a homosexual in 2007.
Hogan, whose birth name is Terry Bollea, was awarded $115million in compensatory damages and $25million in punitive damages.
Last year, Gawker and Bollea ended up settling for $31million.
Harder quits Weinstein’s defense team after he threatened to sue The New York Times for defamation.
It was the Times and The New Yorker that published bombshell reports citing numerous women who came forward and accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
Attorney Lisa Bloom (pictured November 2016) said representing disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein was a ‘colossal mistake’
‘The New York Times published today a story that is saturated with false and defamatory statements about Harvey Weinstein,’ Harder told The Hollywood Reporter on October 5.
‘It relies on mostly hearsay accounts and a faulty report, apparently stolen from an employee personnel file, which has been debunked by nine different eyewitnesses.
‘We sent the Times the facts and evidence, but they ignored it and rushed to publish.
The same day that Bloom announced she was stepping down, another big-name attorney, Lanny Davis, also quit
‘We are preparing the lawsuit now. All proceeds will be donated to women’s organizations.’
Last week, Lisa Bloom, the civil rights attorney, resigned from Weinstein’s team.
Bloom agreed to advise Weinstein with his ‘anger and bombastic workplace attitude’ before the New York Times broke the story on October 5.
She claims she was ‘totally unaware’ of the sexual harassment allegations.
Bloom, who is famous for championing women’s rights, said this weekend she made a ‘colossal mistake’ in representing Weinstein.
In an interview with Buzzfeed News, Lisa Bloom said: ‘I can see that my just being associated with this was a mistake.
‘All I can say is, from my perspective, I thought, “Here is my chance to get to the root of the problem from the inside. I am usually on the outside throwing stones. Here is my chance to be in the inside and to get a guy to handle this thing in a different way.”
‘I thought that would be a positive thing, but clearly it did not go over at all.’
The same day that Bloom announced she was stepping down, another big-name attorney, Lanny Davis, also quit.
Bloom was being replaced by Los Angeles attorney Patricia ‘Patty’ Glaser (right). Weinstein hired Glaser to be his new lawyer in wake of several damaging sexual harassment and assault allegations made against him
Davis, who once represented President Bill Clinton, provided crisis management advice to Weinstein.
On Tuesday, DailyMail.com reported that Weinstein hired a new lawyer, Los Angeles lawyer Patricia ‘Patty’ Glaser, to replace Bloom.
Glaser plans to discredit the women who have spoken out about the sexual harassment and assault they allegedly faced at the hands of the famed producer.