In an unusually short day in Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial, the ex-fiancé of one of Weinstein’s accusers, a former manager at Cipriani Downtown, and a lawyer at Boies Schiller Flexner testified on Thursday morning.
The first to take the stand was Lincoln Davies, the ex-fiancé of costume designer and one-time aspiring actress Dawn Dunning. Dunning had testified on Wednesday that Weinstein put his hand up her skirt and then later propositioned her for a threesome in exchange for parts in movies.
Testifying on Thursday, Davies said he remembered Dunning returning to the home they shared at the time upset after the incident when Weinstein propositioned her. Davies said that Dunning had told him Weinstein greeted her at the door wearing a bathrobe.
“She was pretty shocked, upset, angry, like kind of overall appalled, I would say,” Davies said.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Damon Cheronis inquired whether Dunning had ever indicated to Davies any fear of Weinstein before the bathrobe incident, or whether she told him about the time Weinstein put his hand up his skirt. Davies said she had not.
Afterward, Maurizio Ferrigno, a former manager at Cipriani Downtown who had worked with another accuser, Tarale Wulff, testified that he remembered seeing her and Weinstein going up the stairs in the restaurant. But during cross-examination, Cheronis pressed Ferrigno on whether his memory of seeing Wulff go upstairs with Weinstein about 15 years ago had to be jogged by the prosecutors.
Ferrigno said he didn’t really remember seeing them go upstairs until after the prosecutors had told him that Wulff had said so.
Following the former Cipriani manager, a casting director who had worked on the film “Pulse,” which Wulff believed she was being considered for when asked to meet with Weinstein at his offices. The casting director, Monika Mikkelsen, said that the film was a Bob Weinstein production and that another actress had already been made an offer for the role about a year before Wulff was invited to read for the part.
To close out the day of testimonies, Dev Sen, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, confirmed that he helped Weinstein enter in a contract with Black Cube — the company Weinstein employed to investigate accusers and journalists looking into their claims.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to five counts, including for predatory sexual assault and rape.