Harvey Weinstein Raped Four Women, New Lawsuit Alleges

Court documents state that a woman who was 17 years old at the time of her attack is among the accusers.

A new lawsuit emerged on Thursday claiming that convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein raped four additional women, including one woman who was 17 at the time of her attack. 

Court documents filed in New York include claims from four women for alleged sexual assaults that occurred between 1984 and 2013. 

A 43-year-old woman alleges Weinstein raped her in 1994, when she was 17. The filing says the woman was looking to break into the entertainment industry and was recruited by one of Weinstein's associates "under the guise of doing business." A meeting was then arranged, taking place in the disgraced mogul's hotel room. The woman claims that when she entered the room Weinstein was already naked. The woman claims that Weinstein insisted that in order for him to get her a job, she had to "sexually gratify him." Though rebuffing his demands, the woman alleges that Weinstein "forced her to remove her clothes" and raped her. 

Before leaving the room, the woman claims Weinstein forced her to give him her driver’s license and threatened if she told anyone about their encounter, he would not only make sure she was unable to act in any films, but also "have his associates track her down and physically harm her and her family."

A second woman, 70, alleges Weinstein raped her in 1984 when she was 34. The woman claims the incident happened in France during the Cannes Film Festival. She claims she accompanied a friend of hers, who worked with Weinstein in foreign sales, to a meeting with the producer. She alleges the mogul led her back to one of his suites at the Hotel Barrière Le Majestic in Cannes and "pinned her against the suite’s front door" before sexually assaulting her. The woman claims Weinstein threatened her and told her to keep quiet about the incident after letting her go.

After telling her friend about the assault, the woman alleges the friend told her that they should keep it between themselves, otherwise the woman would be "blackballed from the industry."

A third woman, 38, alleges Weinstein raped her 2008 when she was 26. The woman claims Weinstein "scouted" her while the two were at Cipriani’s in New York City and assured her that he would connect her with powerful players that could "take her career to the next level." After showing up to a "business" meeting with Weinstein at his Soho apartment, she alleges that he forbade her from leaving the apartment "unless she did what he wanted." She alleges that Weinstein then raped her. Afterward, he threatened to ruin the woman's career if she told anyone about the incident. 

A fourth woman, 35, claims Weinstein raped her in 2013, when she was 28. After meeting Weinstein at the Venice Film Festival, the woman was invited to his office ostensibly for an audition set up by one of his secretaries. The audition never happened, but the woman and her friend met Weinstein and his secretary for dinner a few months later. After dinner, the woman claims Weinstein asked her to come by his room around midnight, but given the late hour she went along with her friend. After some discussion about work, the woman claims that Weinstein convinced her friend to leave so he could have a "one-on-one" talk with her. The woman claims that Weinstein then exposed himself and forced her to perform oral sex on him. The woman told her friend of the incident but decided to keep it secret for fear of reprisal.

Bob Weinstein, Miramax and Disney are also named in the suit, which states that they "knew or reasonably should have known that Harvey Weinstein had a propensity to engage in sexual misconduct and would use his position and power to lure Plaintiffs and other similarly situated aspiring female actresses to his apartments, hotel rooms, offices, etc. under the guise of discussing business opportunities to sexually harass, batter, assault, falsely imprison and rape them." 

The suit states: "There is no doubt that Robert Weinstein knew, or should have known, that his brother was a dangerous predator likely to sexually abuse other women like Plaintiffs given that he witnessed his brother’s behavior; received direct and indirect verbal and written complaints made by and on behalf of female victims and/or employees of Miramax who were sexually abused by Harvey Weinstein." 

Weinstein has been accused of rape and sexual assault by more than 100 women. In February, a jury of 12 men and women found the former movie mogul guilty on two of the five potential criminal charges he faced in his New York County trial. Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison following his conviction in New York on sexual assault and rape charges.

Weinstein is currently being held in isolated custody after two inmates at the Wende Correctional Facility in Erie County, New York, east of Buffalo, tested positive for the coronavirus.