Harvey Weinstein is taking legal action against his brother and other executives from their former film company, The Weinstein Company. The disgraced producer filed a lawsuit on Thursday, claiming that his brother Bob Weinstein and others misled him into guaranteeing a $45 million loan in 2016, which they allegedly misappropriated for personal gain. The 72-year-old, once a dominant figure in Hollywood, is currently incarcerated at Rikers Island in New York City, awaiting a retrial on sex crime charges.
Weinstein’s lawsuit is part of an ongoing civil case involving a lender that accuses him of defaulting on the loan. His attorney, Imran Ansari, stated, “Harvey Weinstein was deceived by those closest to him and secured a $45 million loan under the pretense of saving The Weinstein Company.” He further claimed, “While Harvey personally guaranteed the loan, others within The Weinstein Company enriched themselves and strategically undermined him, leaving him ‘holding the bag’ of debt while ‘lining their pockets’ during the company’s crisis.”
Ansari alleges that Bob Weinstein, 70, and other executives conspired to set Harvey up for failure in a bid to take control of the company, which declared bankruptcy in 2018 amid the sexual misconduct scandal surrounding Harvey Weinstein.
In 2017, Weinstein became a central figure in the #MeToo Movement after numerous women accused him of sexual assault, a claim he has consistently denied, asserting that any sexual encounters were consensual. Bob Weinstein’s attorney, Brian Kohn, responded on Friday, stating that “Harvey’s allegations are entirely without merit.”
David Glasser, the former chief operating officer of The Weinstein Company and now CEO of 101 Studios, is also named in the lawsuit but has not yet commented. The loan in question was provided by AI International Holdings to two affiliates of The Weinstein Company and Harvey Weinstein, which later led to a lawsuit when they allegedly defaulted. Weinstein contends that his brother, Glasser, and others deceived him into guaranteeing the loan.
