Report: Weinstein hired investigators to go after accusers
Journalists pursuing the story, including Jodi Kantor of The New York Times and Ronan Farrow, author of the New Yorker piece, were also investigated, the story said.
A spokeswoman for Weinstein did not immediately return a message seeking comment. He has characterized his contact with actresses as consensual.
The New York Times on Tuesday called it inexcusable that lawyer David Boies’ firm tried to halt the newspaper’s investigation into sexual harassment charges against Weinstein while it was also working on other matters for the Times.
Boies disputed the Times’ view that his work for Weinstein represented a conflict of interest. Still, he no longer works for Weinstein and said the task he completed was a mistake.
Boies, best known for representing Al Gore in the 2000 disputed election against George W. Bush, is the second high-profile attorney to take heat for representing the man accused of being one of Hollywood’s biggest sexual predators.
Lisa Bloom, a women’s rights lawyer, quit representing Weinstein when the extent of the accusations against him became known.
The article said the law firm of Boies Schiller Flexner hired and paid one organization with a background in Israeli intelligence agencies at the same time it was representing the Times in a libel case.
“We consider this intolerable conduct, a grave betrayal of trust, and a breach of the basic professional standards that all lawyers are required to observe,” Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said. “It is inexcusable, and we will be pursuing appropriate remedies.”
She did not immediately discuss what those remedies might be.
Boies, in a statement to his firm’s employees on Tuesday, noted that his contract with the newspaper made clear that his firm might do work for clients in unrelated areas that were against the Times’ interests.
“I would never knowingly participate in an effort to intimidate or silence women or anyone else,” he said.
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