So what’s going on, here, exactly?
I told you earlier today about the lawsuit brought against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, his brother Robert, and their production company.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman began a probe in October, after a torrent of horror stories emerged in the New York Times and New Yorker Magazine.
Weinstein had spent years using his position and power to coerce young actresses and models into sex. Some even reported actual rape and sexual assault.
This afternoon, Schneiderman’s office announced that Weinstein’s physical personnel file has gone missing.
“We obtained a form of Mr. Weinstein’s personnel file; we were told that the physical personnel file had gone missing, which is another issue of concern to us,” Schneiderman said. “I don’t know the number of complaints, but there were certainly dozens of formal complaints and many more informal complaints over the years.”
Schneiderman said his office’s four-month investigation of the company found “a pervasive pattern” of sexual harassment, intimidation and abuse.
The missing personnel file is important because it may contain complaints made against Weinstein by other females in his employ.
What their investigation has discovered so far, however, is a lot of cover-up. Nobody was trying to hold the boss accountable. Who would?
The lawsuit filed alleges that Weinstein used other females to help him “bait” young women at bars or parties into having sex with him. He even had crews, including his drivers, who kept condoms and erectile dysfunction shots on the ready.
Weinstein’s company is up for sale, but that has become a tenuous prospect, since the lawsuit requires that any deal include compensation for Weinstein’s victims.
Weinstein has repeatedly denied all accusations of nonconsensual sex.
His attorney released a statement saying many of the allegations against his client are “without merit.”
The revelations of Weinstein’s abuse came, thanks to Ronan Farrow, who didn’t drop the story, after NBC chose to pass on it.
It was a story that rocked Hollywood and opened up the gates to a rush of #MeToo stories, not just in Hollywood, but in media and sports, as well.
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