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<\/p>\nby Alberto Luperon |\u00a0 LAW NEWZ<\/p>\n
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There are very few ways to adequately summarize the mindblowing allegations in a brand-new\u00a0New Yorker<\/a>\u00a0article that reports\u00a0Harvey Weinstein<\/b>\u00a0engaged in an ornate plot to discredit, intimidate and stop accusers from stepping forward. Hiring an intelligence firm named Black Cube (comprised of former Mossad and other Israeli intel agents) to use false identities to meet with journalists and alleged victims? Check. Attempting to squash the New York Times\u2019 bombshell sexual harassment report? Check. Relying on massive corporate firms to dig up discrediting information on accusers? Check. Relying on high-profile attorneys\u2026check.<\/p>\n The names\u00a0Davie Boies\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0Lisa Bloom<\/strong>\u00a0are going to sound similar.<\/p>\n Boies played no small role in American history: He represented Democratic candidate\u00a0Al Gore\u00a0<\/strong>in the 2000 Supreme Court case\u00a0Bush v. Gore<\/em>. The New Yorker report said he signed the contract ordering Black Cube to uncover information stopping the Times from publishing it\u2019s story about Weinstein\u2019s alleged sexual harassment. That\u2019s not necessarily what makes this problematic for him, however. It\u2019s this: At the time, his law firm Boies Schiller Flexner represented the Times in a libel lawsuit.<\/p>\n He denied this was a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n From the New Yorker article:<\/p>\n From the beginning, he said, he advised Weinstein \u201cthat the story could not be stopped by threats or influence and that the only way the story could be stopped was by convincing the\u00a0Times<\/i>\u00a0that there was no rape.\u201d Boies told me he never pressured any news outlet. \u201cIf evidence could be uncovered to convince the\u00a0Times<\/i>\u00a0the charges should not be published, I did not believe, and do not believe, that that would be averse to the\u00a0Times\u2019<\/i>\u00a0interest.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Still, Boies voiced concern about the overall scheme. He said he didn\u2019t believe former attorneys should criticize former clients, but he also acknowledged that Weinstein admitted a degree of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n \u201cIn retrospect, I knew enough in 2015 that I believe I should have been on notice of a problem, and done something about it,\u201d Boies said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what, if anything, happened after 2015, but to the extent it did, I think I have some responsibility. I also think that if people had taken action earlier it would have been better for Mr. Weinstein.\u201d<\/p>\n Over\u00a070 women<\/a>\u00a0have claimed Weinstein sexually harassed them or worse. Allegations sprouted out after the Times\u2019 bombshell Oct. 5 article which detailed sexual harassment settlements with eight women.<\/p>\n Boies confirmed to the New Yorker that his law firm hired and paid two agencies involved in the scheme, and he got reports from one of them. He gave these reports to Weinstein, he said. Boies said this was a mistake.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should not have been contracting with and paying investigators that we did not select and direct,\u201d he told The New Yorker. \u201cAt the time, it seemed a reasonable accommodation for a client, but it was not thought through, and that was my mistake. It was a mistake at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Bloom only appears in the story once, and isn\u2019t directly tied into the plot the way that Boies is. But details shows that she was apparently implicated in an attempt by Weinstein to discredit the alleged victims.\u00a0Pamela Lubell<\/strong>, a former Miramax producer who felt guilty about her own involvement, was the source for this scene (emphasis ours<\/em>):<\/p>\n Lubell told me that hours before the first\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0story broke, on October 5th, Weinstein summoned her, Doyle Chambers, and others on his team, including the attorney Lisa Bloom, who has since resigned, to his office. \u201cHe was in a panic,\u201d Lubell recalled. \u201cHe starts screaming, \u2018Get so-and-so on the phone.\u2019 \u201d After the story was published, the team scrambled to respond to it.\u00a0Bloom and others pored over pictures that, like the ones featured in the Kroll e-mails, showed ongoing contact between Weinstein and women who made allegations.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n (Context:\u00a0The article says Kroll, a corporate intelligence company, played a role in finding pictures meant to discredit Rose McGowan. The photos showed her being friendly with Weinstein after he allegedly assaulted her.)<\/p>\n These details support a New York Times report from October, showing that Bloom sent photos to Weinstein Company board members showing alleged victims being friendly with the movie mogul.<\/p>\n From the\u00a0article<\/a>:<\/p>\n As the board convened an emergency phone meeting on Thursday evening to address the allegations, published\u00a0in an investigation by The Times<\/a>, Ms. Bloom sent an email to board members attacking the article. She outlined a plan that involved \u201cmore and different reporting,\u201d including \u201cphotos of several of the accusers in very friendly poses with Harvey after his alleged misconduct.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Bloom, who resigned as Weinstein\u2019s attorney on Oct. 7, firmly pushed back.<\/p>\n Ms. Bloom said on Saturday that there was a large team handling Mr. Weinstein\u2019s defense and that she personally \u201cdid not release photos of accusers\u201d to the press.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n