Harvey Weinstein To Sue The New York Times After Sexual Harassment Allegations

The Miramax co-founder plans to file a lawsuit against the esteemed newspaper.

Deadline reports that Harvey Weinstein announced his intentions to sue The New York Times after the paper published a piece accusing him of decades of sexual harassment. One of Weinstein's lawyers, Charles Harder, stated that the article "is saturated with false and defamatory statements about Harvey Weinstein."

"It relies on mostly hearsay accounts and a faulty report, apparently stolen from an employee personnel file, which has been debunked by 9 different eyewitnesses," Harder continued. "We sent the Times the facts and evidence, but they ignored it and rushed to publish. We are preparing the lawsuit now. All proceeds will be donated to women's organizations."

According to Page Six, Weinstein, 65, may sue for as much as $50 million. At the time of writing, however, no such lawsuit has been filed.

As Nicki Swift previously reported, The New York Times released an exposé about the Weinstein Company co-founder on Oct. 5, 2017. In the article, the paper claimed that Weinstein had sexually harassed actresses and female colleagues for years and had reached at least eight sexual harassment-related settlements over the decades—one of which was reportedly with Charmed star Rose McGowan.

Actress Ashley Judd also claimed to have been sexually harassed by Weinstein, who, she said, once invited her to his hotel room and asked her to give him a massage and watch him shower.

In a statement made to The New York Times, Weinstein seemed to confirm that he'd engaged in some misconduct with female employees, saying, "I realized some time ago that I needed to be a better person and my interactions with the people I work with have changed. I appreciate the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it."

However, his lawyer Lisa Bloom then followed up by telling the press that her client "denies many of the accusations as patently false."