The Economic Enablement of a Serial Sexual Predator
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Harvey Weinstein: The economic enablement of a serial sexual predator Laurel Adams December 2017 In October, The New York Times and The New Yorker broke that numerous women had accused famous Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. A pattern emerged for the alleged assaults. A Q. Miramax employee would arrange a business meeting with a female actress. Immediately prior to Given the trail of money facilitating the meeting, the location would be changed and the Harvey Weinstein’s assaults, cover-ups, actress was told to meet Weinstein at a hotel bar. When she’d arrive, one of Weinstein’s “people” and legal settlements, what economic would tell her to go up to Weinstein’s hotel room, resources allowed Weinstein to where the assaults took place. continue abuse for over three An enormous amount of money facilitated the decades? encounters that allowed Weinstein to repeatedly assault women, cover them up, pay legal settlements and intimidate victims for over three decades. This report looks at how both economic power and systemic factors enabled Weinstein's serial abuse for so long. The Al Capone Theory “People who engage in sexual Valerie Aurora, a diversity consultant, and Leigh Honeywell, an ACLU technology fellow, argue that harassment or assault are also likely to sexual harassment is often tipoff for other forms of steal, plagiarize, embezzle, engage in misconduct occurring at a company, calling it the “Al overt racism, or otherwise harm their Capone Theory of Sexual Harassment” (Kolhatkar). Federal authorities tried unsuccessfully for years to business.” prosecute the Prohibition-era gangster Al Capone for crimes like smuggling and murder. Eventually, they “All of these behaviors are the actions arrested him for a different offense—tax evasion. of someone who feels entitled to other Aurora and Honeywell noticed a pattern in the tech people’s property—regardless of industry that was similar to the Al Capone case: predatory sexual behavior often accompanied other whether it’s someone else’s ideas, infractions. For example, Mark Hurd, a former C.E.O. work, money, or body.” of Hewlett-Packard, was accused of sexual harassment but resigned for lying on expense reports. Scholars Valerie Aurora and Leigh Honeywell, quoted in The New Similarly, federal prosecutors have opened a criminal Yorker. investigation into Harvey Weinstein’s charity transactions while he is being investigated on rape charges. At an organizational level, bad behavior often accompanies other bad behavior. Weinstein’s accusers To date, 83 women have accused Harvey Weinstein of “Of all the girls he does this sexual harassment (Moniuszko and Kelly). However, sexual harassment has very low reporting rates and this to, you are the one I really is an unusually high-profile case. A recent class-action suit against the producer estimates that there are felt bad about.” “dozens, and likely hundreds, of proposed class members,” according to the lawsuit. Reportedly said by Weinstein’s assistant to model Zoe Brock in 1997, Brock says Weinstein invited her to his hotel room, removed his clothes, requested a massage and then chased Brock around the hotel room. Brock locked herself in the bathroom until she could escape (Thulin). According to a 2013 YouGov/Huffington Post poll, 75% of people who experience sexual harassment don’t report it (Mona). Using that percentage and a publicly- known victim population of 83 women (as of December 2017), there could be a potential victim population of 332 women. The cover-up “Don’t say anything … it will In order to keep victims quiet, Weinstein often paid them off. According toThe New York Times , definitely hurt your career. Weinstein has said that he’s entered private agreements with at least 8 - 12 women (Twohey). This is Harvey.” Most of the victims received between $80,000 and $150,000 according to those familiar with the negotiations. One of Harvey Weinstein’s producing partners speaking to victim Melissa Sagemiller. Sagemiller alleges that in 2000, Weinstein blocked the exit of her hotel room until she kissed him (Thulin). With a potential victim population of 332, and a ballpark settlement amount of $100,000, there’s a potential cost of $33.2 million for settlements. Known Weinstein payouts “When I kept saying no to everything, there was a huge Year Accuser Payout asymmetry of power and 1997 Zoe Brock $100,000 control in that room.” 1997 Rose McGowan $100,000 Actress Ashley Judd, who in 1996 was invited to a meeting at hotel restaurant, which was later moved to Weinstein’s hotel room. Once 1998 Zelda Perkins ~ $600,000 inside the hotel room, Weinstein asked Judd to watch him shower (Desta). 2004 Ashley Matthau $100,000 2015 Ambra Battaliona Gomez $1,000,000 Sources: Desta and Thulin Confidentiality Agreements In order to receive a monetary settlement, victims often signed NDAs drafted by Weinstein’s high-powered legal “The Weinstein team. Gloria Allred, a victim’s rights attorney representing some Weinstein’s accusers, says that NDAs may be confidentiality agreement is preferred by both accused and victims (Farrow). However, the NDAs from Weinstein’s team were perhaps the most usurious unusually Draconian. In the settlement involving Italian model Ambra Battigalina Guiterrez, it called for one I have seen in decades destruction of all evidence related to the incident, including her cell phone, a sworn affidavit and penalties of practice. ” for breaches. Zelda Perkins, a former assistant to Weinstein, received An attorney familiar with the agreement to Ronan Farrow of The New a settlement underwritten by his brother Bob Weinstein in Yorker in “Harvey Weinstein’s Secret Settlements. 1998. Even at age 23, Perkins identified a pattern of predatory behavior by Weinstein. She fought for requirements in her NDA to prevent continued abuse, mandating that Weinstein receive treatment from a psychiatrist of her choosing and that Disney be notified of any future harassment settlements. Yet Weinstein’s abuse continued unabated for almost 20 more years. Intimidation tactics In 2015, Italian model Ambra Battigalina Guiterrez reported an assault by Weinstein to NYPD, who helped “We’ll drag you through the her participate in a sting where she records Weinstein admitting to the abuse. In response, Weinstein’s legal mud by your hair.” team hired a private investigator firm called K2 (Farrow). All of K2’s employees had worked in the DA’s office previously. K2 produced a dossier linking Guiterrez to notorious former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Ashley Anderson Matthua’s account of a conversation with Daniel Martha Bashford, the head of the DA’s sex crimes unit, Petrocelli, Weinstein’s legal counsel. Weinstein assaulted Matthua in his asked Guiterrez about Berlusconi and her sexual history Puerto Rico hotel room while filming Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Petrocelli warned Matthau not to go public, noting that she had attended with “unusual hostility.” Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus parties at the Playboy Mansion and the press would portray her as Vance, did not press charges against Weinstein. promiscuous. Matthau signed a settlement for $100,000 (Gabler). Rose McGowan was contacted by a woman called Diana Phillip of Rueben Capital Partner, who offered the former actress money to speak at a gala for a women’s rights kickoff event. Phillips was actually an agent for Black Cube, an elite Israeli private intelligence firm, operating undercover to kill any potential stories. They secretly recorded tens of hours of communication with Rose McGowan. “They just said, ‘No way. Legal Failures Disney will crush you. Victims often encountered reluctance from their own legal representatives. Zelda Perkins recalled often being the Miramax will crush you. They only women in a room with 5 or 6 senior, male lawyers, and only being 23 or 24 at the time. When she prodded will drag you, your family, the team on pursuing criminal charges against Weinstein, they warned against it. To this day, Perkins only has been your friends, your pets able to obtain a few pages of her legal agreement with Weinstein (Farrow). It’s part of her a stipulation of the through the mud and show settlement that both her former law firm and Weinstein’s continue to follow that she never personally possess a full that you are unreliable, copy of her own legal agreement. insane. Whatever they need The former actress Rose McGowan described a similar experience. She didn’t sign an NDA but did relinquish her to do to silence you.’ ” right to sue Weinstein. She wanted to press criminal charges again him, but her legal team instead encouraged her to take the settlement. “I thought a Advice Zelda Perkins received from her own legal counsel about wanting hundred thousand dollars was a lot of money at that time, to pursue criminal charges against Weinstein (Farrow). because I was a kid,” McGowan says (Farrow). Unequal burdens Harvey Weinstein targeted young women who were at a significant economic disadvantage compared to him. Weinsten has a reported net worth of $240 - $300 million (Tutle). His victims were often entry-level assistants, or actresses who were paid by the job. As such, the costs of obtaining legal help placed a disproportionate financial burdens on victims. Below are estimates on the financial resources available to the accused and the accusers. Weinstein’s Resources Accuser’s Resources Other Figures Weinstein’s salary Avg. assistant salary $2M $47,000 Est. of potential victims 332 (Twohey) (Glassdoor) $600 / High-end legal help $1,000 / hr Cost of legal help Potential settlement cost $33.2M hr Potential class action $332M Est. hours of legal help 20 Est. hours of legal help 20 (est. $1M per victim) Total legal cost $20,000 Total legal cost $12,000 % of salary spent on % of salary spent on 1% 25% legal assistance legal assistance Workplace power imbalance between A Positive Feedback genders Loop of Abuse • Existing gender power imbalance in the workplace, exacerbated in entertainment industry, where men Lack of Most largely control production.