Bob Weinstein was personally underwriting settlements to Harvey’s victims

Embed from Getty Images

This is a terrible thing to say, but whenever I use this ^ photo, I imagine Bob and Harvey Weinstein toasting, “To rape!” Only this time, I think they’re probably toasting “to paying off all of the women Harvey raped!” Ronan Farrow published another exclusive with the New Yorker in the ongoing saga of Harvey Weinstein. This time, Bob Weinstein is in Farrow’s crosshairs. Apparently, Bob Weinstein was helping his brother pay settlements to Harvey’s victims. Which we sort of knew already, that the settlements were coming from The Weinstein Company, with Bob’s knowledge. Farrow says that Bob actually underwrote at least two settlements. You can read the full New Yorker piece here.

In April 20, 2015, the Filipina-Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez sat in an office in midtown Manhattan with an eighteen-page legal agreement in front of her. She had been advised by her attorney that signing the agreement was the best thing for her and her family. In exchange for a million-dollar payment from Harvey Weinstein, Gutierrez would agree never to talk publicly about an incident during which Weinstein groped her breasts and tried to stick his hand up her skirt.

“I didn’t even understand almost what I was doing with all those papers,” she told me, in her first interview discussing her settlement. “I was really disoriented. My English was very bad. All of the words in that agreement were super difficult to understand. I guess even now I can’t really comprehend everything.” She recalled that, across the table, Weinstein’s attorney was trembling visibly as she picked up the pen. “I saw him shaking and I realized how big this was. But then I thought I needed to support my mom and brother and how my life was being destroyed, and I did it,” she told me. “The moment I did it, I really felt it was wrong.”

Weinstein used nondisclosure agreements like the one Gutierrez signed to evade accountability for claims of sexual harassment and assault for at least twenty years. He used these kinds of agreements with employees, business partners, and women who made allegations—women who were often much younger and far less powerful than Weinstein, and who signed under pressure from attorneys on both sides.

Weinstein also hid the payments underwriting some of these settlements. In one case, in the nineteen-nineties, Bob Weinstein, who co-founded the film studio Miramax with his brother, paid two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, roughly six hundred thousand dollars today, to be split between two female employees in England who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment and assault. The funds came from Bob Weinstein’s personal bank account—a move that helped conceal the payment from executives at Miramax and its parent company, Disney, as well as from Harvey Weinstein’s spouse.

In an interview, Bob Weinstein acknowledged the personal payout but said that his brother had misled him about the reasons behind it. “Regarding that payment, I only know what Harvey told me, and basically what he said was he was fooling around with two women and they were asking for money,” Bob Weinstein told me. “And he didn’t want his wife to find out, so he asked me if I could write a check, and so I did, but there was nothing to indicate any kind of sexual harassment.” A former senior Miramax executive said that it was implausible that Bob Weinstein did not know about the nature of the allegations, which were reported to the company.

[From The New Yorker]

Ronan also got another woman to go on the record: Zelda Perkins, a former assistant to Harvey Weinstein, who says that her sexual harassment and assault claim was settled with money from Bob Weinstein. When Perkins settled, she demanded “requirements specifically intended to prevent Weinstein from continuing to victimize women. The settlement mandated that Weinstein receive treatment from a psychiatrist of Perkins’s choice and that Disney be notified of future harassment settlements made by him.” Except that didn’t happen, because Bob Weinstein and the men of TWC helped protect and insulate Harvey Weinstein from truly paying for his many crimes for years. They enabled him. Bob enabled him. And I don’t believe Bob was ever completely in the dark about what his brother did.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

33 Responses to “Bob Weinstein was personally underwriting settlements to Harvey’s victims”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Gia says:

    Of course he knew.

  2. Hh says:

    Good for Ronan Farrow. When Bob tried to issue a statement acting shocked/disgusted, it was appalling. He was not only a brother, but a business partner. If he didn’t know everything, he knew 95% of it. Spare me the shock, bro.

    • AnnaKist says:

      I completely agree, Hh. These two fellas were/are powerful businessmen, and from what we’ve learned so far, they make sure to be in as much control as is possible in any given situation. If Bob was so ignorant of what was going on right under his nose, he wouldn’t have been able to help rbuild that business to what it became. The pair of them are control freaks. Bob knew it all. Harvey knew Bob knew it all. That’s how and why they kept the lid on his crimes for so long.

  3. Suzanne says:

    Two majorly disgusting Schmucks!

  4. Kate says:

    Of course he did. Bros before hoes, am I right?

  5. monkeeeeeyyy33 says:

    Tea is the only reason any of this came out is because Bob wanted Harvey out. Not because of the mass serial rapes his bro was doing but because he wanted the $$$ pie mostly to himself and was tired of Harveys spendthrift ways.

  6. Lala says:

    Most of the movies I adore were produced by the Weinsteins…and it makes me psychologically ill knowing that and has tainted my enjoyment forever…and THEN…I feel guilty about THOSE feelings, because I KNOW my feelings are NOTHING compared to the devestation of knowing SO MANY WOMEN had the ONLY THING that they own violated and taken from them…their bodies and their souls….

    • Brian says:

      Don’t feel bad. It’s a terrible shame that so much hurt has been hidden for so long, but film-making is a collaborative effort and I’m sure the end results of those films you enjoy so much have given so much to others as well.

  7. detritus says:

    Perkins did everything she could to protect women going forward, she tried to keep herself safe by being quiet, and to put provisions in to protect other women. She even tried to help Weinstein by requiring therapy. The woman is a champ.

    And instead, his brother and board members decided not only that they knew better, but that they didn’t need to uphold the agreement.

  8. Lucy says:

    Ronan is doing the God’s Work right now, not that it surprises me. And this is only the beginning.

    • Lala says:

      When you look at his background…you can just see…Mia raised him right! And he’s BRILLIANT!

    • holly hobby says:

      He should go after that pervert who married his sister next.

      • SM says:

        I imagine Ronan now knows exactly what his brain looks like from all that deep eye rolls enduced by all these people justifying to him their behavior (first the lawyer subcontracting ex mosad and now executives and partners at the firm). Must be dreadful and needs sooo much patience not to just tell them all to fuck off and present “their side of the story” in each piece.

  9. holly hobby says:

    NY it’s time you find another DA. If you read the whole article, DA Cyrus Vance is a clueless hack. First he declined to prosecute the Trump children for their shady/most likely illegal real estate dealings now he’s at the front and center and declining to bring charges to this pervert.

    He does not have the best interest of New Yorkers to heart obviously.

    • cr says:

      Vance ran unopposed in the most recent elections. Stuck with him for the foreseeable future.

      • holly hobby says:

        It’s time someone steps up and runs against him. Obviously he’s now vulnerable. I’d rather elect the bum on the street than Vance.

    • Snowflake says:

      Pam Bondi, the attorney general in FL declined to press charges against Trump University. She used Trump’s Mar a largo property for her re_election campaign.

    • detritus says:

      Vance is a criminal.
      He was bribed by the Weinsteins, he had to return the money recently or something.
      I cant believe he still has a job.

  10. happyoften says:

    I cannot wrap my head around the entire Weinstein machine actively participating in his abuse. Every single person of any import knew he was a raging predator and not only did nothing to stop him, but helped him continue.

    Did it never occur to any of them that his behavior would be exposed? That they would be held accountable for their actions? I am focusing on their protecting their own hide, because obviously they have no concern whatsoever for his many victims. Like zero. The amount of arrogance needed to believe they were beyond the reach of consequences…. its staggering.

  11. teacakes says:

    Of course that lying sexual harasser knew what and who the settlements were for.

  12. dumbledork says:

    After he declined to prosecute Weinstein, one of Weinstein’s lawyers donated $10,000 to Vance’s re-election. Shady POS.

    • holly hobby says:

      Same MO as how he “handled” the Trump children real estate fraud case. He dropped it in exchange for a donation. When he was outted, he “returned” the money. Too bad there isn’t some kind of ethical charge people can level at him. He needs to be disbarred.

  13. Sky says:

    Like I said when Bob made his first statement, he was only talking to cover his own a$$ and make himself look like a victim in the eye of the public.

  14. spidey says:

    Accessory before and after, and possibly during, the fact?

  15. Tito says:

    I dont get these men, why all this trouble when You can have expensive prostitutes?
    I dispise all of that of course but still, why the risk and pay offs etc??? They are so disgusting. We all know that everyone at Weinstein Company knew exactly what harvey did, so no surprise here

  16. Mar says:

    THEY. ALL. KNEW.

  17. Lisa says:

    So his firing of his brother from their company is merely lip service and an attempt to protect his own reputation. It still came out.