Harvey Weinstein, who dozens of women have accused him of sexually abused them, sent an email recently to close friends criticizing the investigation into some of the claims and asking friends to talk to him directly.
“I’ve had one hell of a year. The worst nightmare of my life,” Weinstein wrote.
“As you can see from these articles,” Weinstein continued, linking to several news stories, “the police have played a very difficult role in my investigation.”
“The articles are self-explanatory, but I’d like to speak to you on the phone if you have some time. There is more to this story … I appreciate your confidentiality,” he added.
The email leaked widely and was obtained by the New York Times and TMZ, among others.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said the email was sent to several of Weinstein’s close friends.
Some of the women who have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, including rape, said they read the email.
Weinstein’s legal team has pushed to get the charges against their client dropped, claiming that he is being treated unfairly.
“It’s all about him,” said Katherine Kendall, who said that Weinstein chased her and blocked her from leaving his apartment. “He knows how to run a marketing campaign, that’s for sure.”
Criminal Charges
One of six criminal charges against Weinstein pending in New York was dismissed on Oct. 10 after an unnamed witness went to the police and told them an account that differed from the one of the accuser, Lucia Evans. The New York City police detective who heard the account failed to inform prosecutors, leading to the charge’s dismissal.
Evans said that Weinstein forced her to perform sexual acts on him when she was a 21-year-old college student in 2004.
Investigators said in late November that they wouldn’t be pursuing charges related to Weinstein paying settlements to some of his accusers.
The attorneys made the latest filing on Nov. 29, saying emails from Weinstein’s alleged victims show that they “for years engaged in loving and often intimate conversations with him before and after the date of the alleged assault[s],” reported NBC.
Prosecutors have pushed back on the attempts to dismiss the charges, saying there’s “ample evidence” to move forward.
“There is no possibility that this issue in any way impaired the integrity of the grand jury or prejudiced the defendant,” Assistant District Attorney Kevin Wilson wrote in a motion filed in response to Weinstein’s attorneys’ calls for a dismissal.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 20.
Brafman told NYT that he has been trying to “level the playing field” in his defense of Weinstein.
“We are getting killed by people writing articles, books and creating a sensation out of a case that has been in shambles,” he said. “It’s part of my job to defend Harvey in the public arena where unfortunately the case is being litigated, and in the courtroom. I have a defense strategy, it is not a media strategy.”
