Harvey Weinstein’s victims have had the courts reduce their settlement by $8 million. The women who were victimized by the disgraced movie mogul had previously reached a settlement over their allegations of sexual assault. The NY Daily News has reported that the money originally agreed to be paid to the group of women previously set at $25 million as part of a settlement deal has been cut to just $17 million.
This suit deals specifically with the Weinstein Company which Harvey Weinstein established after he sold his famed Miramax company to Disney.
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The new deal overall grants $8.4 million to be reserved for Weinstein Company Creditors, and reduces the money available to pay for the legal bills of any Weinstein Company officers and employees from $12.2 million to $9.7 million. No money, however, is made available for Harvey Weinstein’s own legal bills. This case was
Lest anyone think that is just about greed, it is not. Mr. Weinstein may already be publicly disgraced, his career over, bankrupt and looking at a long time in jail, but the women who he harmed still deserve some form of compensation. Mr. Weinstein has become the poster boy for women across America who suffered for years, especially in Hollywood, as men in power forced themselves upon them. In some cases it was not just an implied “sex for advancement” arrangement but outright rape.
Wedil David, Dominique Huett, Kaja Sokola, Rowena Chiu, Zelda Perkins, and Tarale Wulff, six of the women involved in the original suit against Harvey Weinstein, released a statement through their lawyers expressing their disappointment at hearing the news. The lawyers, Kevin Mintzer and Doug Wigdor., stated:
“Filed in the middle of the night to avoid attention, the latest Weinstein settlement plan is more offensive than the version that was rejected by Judge Hellerstein. Under the new plan, which is approximately $10 million less than the plan rejected by Judge Hellerstein, more than half of the settlement funds are paid to Robert Weinstein and the other ultra-wealthy former directors of The Weinstein Company, as well as TWC creditors including huge media companies and famous actors.”
“In addition, the revised plan continues to force survivors to forfeit all claims against TWC, its insurers, Robert Weinstein and the other former representatives who allegedly enabled Harvey Weinstein,.”
“We continue to be perplexed by the Attorney General of New York’s endorsement of a resolution that is a complete and utter sellout of Harvey Weinstein’s victims.”
Alexandra Canosa, another victim of Harvey Weinstein, is also outraged. Her lawyer Thomas Giuffra had some harsh words for the NY State Atorney General saying, “I am baffled why Leticia James, the Attorney General of the State of New York continues to support an agreement that one of the giants of the Federal Bench has rejected as ‘phony’. Far from supporting the rights of women, Ms. James is putting the support of her office behind the wealthy good old boys network who accepted ‘Harvey being Harvey’ for so long, This is a complete disgrace in my opinion.”
“Ms. Canosa and I are hopeful that Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath will see through this sham of a settlement with the same speed and passion that Judge Hellerstein did. It is obvious that the only lawyers who are looking out for the survivors are the lawyers who are actually litigating their cases and trying to hold the responsible parties accountable for their conduct.”
