Harvey Weinstein’s attorney says that his client deserves credit for promoting “more women to key executive positions than any other industry leader.”
That statement from Ben Brafman was a response to a civil rights lawsuit filed by New York’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman.
“If the purpose of the inquiry is to encourage reform throughout the film industry, Mr. Weinstein will embrace the investigation,” Brafman writes. “If the purpose, however, is to scapegoat Mr. Weinstein, he will vigorously defend himself.”
The statement from Brafman reads:
“We believe that a fair investigation by Mr. Schneiderman will demonstrate that many of the allegations against Harvey Weinstein are without merit. While Mr. Weinstein’s behavior was not without fault, there certainly was no criminality, and at the end of the inquiry it will be clear that Harvey Weinstein promoted more women to key executive positions than any other industry leader and there was zero discrimination at either Miramax or TWC.
If the purpose of the inquiry is to encourage reform throughout the film industry, Mr. Weinstein will embrace the investigation. If the purpose however is to scapegoat Mr. Weinstein, he will vigorously defend himself.”
The New York lawsuit alleges multiple “egregious violations of New York’s civil rights, human rights, and business laws.”
The attorney general’s office said in a statement: “Today’s suit includes numerous employee-victim accounts of sexual harassment, intimidation, and other misconduct.”
The lawsuit names TWC and co-founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein. It accuses senior management of multiple instances of not reacting to allegations of abusive behavior.
The scrutiny could complicate attempts to close the pending sale of TWC to an investor group led by former Obama Small Business Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet.
The company’s board said in a statement that many of the accusations were “inaccurate.”
“With respect to the Company’s ongoing sale process, the Board sought a transaction to preserve jobs and create a victim fund,” the board statement said, adding that it hoped to continue discussions with the Attorney General “in order to reach our common goal of bringing this situation to an appropriate resolution.”