Weinstein Company Board Member Dirk Ziff Resigns

Dirk Ziff, a board member of the Weinstein Company, has resigned following a bombshell New York Times expose detailing at least eight settlements for sexual misconduct by co-CEO Harvey Weinstein, an individual with knowledge of the matter told TheWrap.

On Thursday, the nine-person board, minus Ziff, had a heated discussion about Weinstein’s fate at the company. By Friday morning, his fate was still in limbo, but a decision is expected on Friday.

The individual with knowledge said Ziff was not on the board call last night, indicating that he was already separating from the company. Ziff is managing partner at Ziff Capital Partners, the owner of World Surf League and also serves on the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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He retained star litigator David Boies, as well as attorneys Lisa Bloom and Charles Harder.

The Times then broke a lengthy investigative piece on Thursday, alleging three decades of sexual misconduct by the Hollywood mogul, and said that eight women had received monetary settlements over the years in exchange for their silence.

Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan are among the accusers. Judd told the Times that Weinstein asked to massage her in a hotel room and pressured her to watch him shower during a meeting two decades ago. The report said the women generally received between $80,000 and $150,000 in settlements.

The report was followed by an apology from the Hollywood titan, announcing he would take a leave from the film and TV company and that he would devote himself to battling the NRA and President Donald Trump.

Also Read: New York Times Calls on Harvey Weinstein to Release Women From Nondisclosure Agreements

Harder, who represented Hulk Hogan in his successful lawsuit against Gawker, then said he was preparing a lawsuit against The New York Times on behalf of Weinstein.

In an interview with TheWrap, Weinstein said, “I mean every word of that apology. The reason I am suing the New York Times is they didn’t give me enough time to respond.”

Other board members include Lance Maerov, SVP of corporate development at WPP Group USA; Tim Sarnoff, Deputy CEO at Technicolor; Marc Lasry, owner of Milwaukee Bucks and CEO of Avenue Capital Group; Tarak Ben Ammar, owner of French distributor Quinta Communications; Paul Tudor Jones, founder of The Tudor Group and Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

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