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Harvey Weinstein is suing his former studio to gain access to his emails that he believes contain information "exonerating" him from claims of sexual harassment and assault.
The legal action comes after actor Ashley Judd detailed her alleged sexual harassment at the hands of Weinstein on US TV, and after Norwegian actor Natassia Malthe became the latest woman to accuse Weinstein of sexual assault.
The disgraced movie mogul lodged the lawsuit against The Weinstein Company (TWC), which he co-founded with his younger brother, to help defend himself against civil and criminal allegations.
The studio sacked the Oscar winner after a series of sexual assault and abuse allegations mounted against him and Weinstein now claims it is withholding his company emails and personal file.
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The lawsuit filed in Delaware in the US on Thursday is demanding access to the documents, and suggests he could use them to fight a wrongful termination case or another legal battle with the studio.
“Mr Weinstein believes that his email account — which is the primary, if not only, account he used during the term of his employment by the company — will contain information exonerating him, and therefore the company, from claims that may be asserted against him or the company,” it says.
Weinstein is the subject of police investigations in London, Los Angeles and New York, while the firm is facing civil battles.
The lawsuit states Weinstein could specifically use his emails to investigate the claim of actress Dominique Huett, who is suing TWC for $5 million (€4.3 million) claiming the firm knew of Weinstein’s alleged offending.
The lawsuit says “similar improper conduct” has been levelled against his brother Bob Weinstein, who has denied sexually harassing a female producer.
“Mr Weinstein seeks no more than to be able to have access to the same information as his brother does to prevent further harm to the company,” it adds.
After the initial allegations broke, Bob Weinstein (63) said he was “mortified and disgusted by my brother’s actions”.
Harvey Weinstein (65) also wants access to his personal file so he can investigate whether information from it was leaked to the press and then pursue a claim against TWC and its representatives, the document says.
Ashley Judd
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The legal action came after Judd detailed on US television her alleged sexual harassment at the hands of Weinstein.
It was her first public comments since she made allegations to the New York Times, triggering more than 60 other women to come forward to make allegations against Weinstein. In an interview with Diane Sawyer on US network ABC, Judd said she went to a hotel in 1997 for what she thought was a breakfast meeting with Weinstein.
Once in the room, the actress said he began pressuring her to give and receive massages and to watch him shower. She said: “There’s this constant grooming, negotiation going on. I thought no meant no. I fought with this volley of nos, which he ignored. “Maybe he heard them as maybe, maybe he heard them as yeses. Maybe they turned him on.”
In a bid to get out of the bathroom, Judd said she resorted to striking a deal with him. She told Sawyer: “He just kept coming at me with all this other stuff. Finally, I just said ‘When I win an Oscar in one of your movies, okay?’
“He said ‘When you get nominated’. I said ‘No, when I win an Oscar’. And then I just fled.”
She added: “I think, you know, am I proud of that? I’m of two minds. The part that shames myself says no. The part of me that understands the way shame works says ‘that was absolutely brilliant, good job, kid. You got out of there. Well done’.
“It’s a very important word, shame, and it’s a very important thing to talk about, so we all do the best we can and our best is good enough. And it’s really okay to have responded however we responded.”
No warning
Judd said nobody had ever warned her about Weinstein before she went for the meeting, but said: “I remember the lurch when I went to the (hotel) desk and I said, ‘Mr Weinstein, is he on the patio?’ And they said ‘He’s in his room’, and I was like ‘Oh, you’re kidding me?”’ She told Sawyer she went up to his room because they had a business appointment, adding: “Which is his pattern of sexual predation, that was how he rolled.”
Judd said she wished she could “go back with a magic wand, I wish I could prevent it for anyone, always.”
She added: “I don’t know that I would have been believed and who was I to tell? I knew it was disgusting. Was I going to tell the concierge who sent me up to the room?”
Questioned about a photograph of Judd and Weinstein at an Oscar party after the meeting, obtained from Weinstein’s team, the actress denied it proves they were on friendly terms. She said: “No. That’s deny, attack, reverse the order of offender and victim.”
In another photo from that same party, Weinstein is pictured holding Judd’s hand. She said: “I hoped I didn’t pass him, but I did, and he obviously grabbed my hand. “The look on my face is abject terror. I can see it in my eyes. It’s very gross. It’s very gross. I feel for that 28, 29-year-old woman.”
Actresses including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Lupita Nyong’o were among those to accuse him of sexual harassment.
Weinstein has “unequivocally denied” allegations of non-consensual sex.–PA