Former Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court during the rape and sexual assault retrial in New York City. Photo / AFP
Former Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court during the rape and sexual assault retrial in New York City. Photo / AFP
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer claimed Miriam Haley accused him to enable a lawsuit for monetary gain.
Haley denied the claim, stating she spoke out to support other women alleging Weinstein’s assaults.
Weinstein’s 2020 convictions were overturned; he faces a retrial for assaults on Haley and Jessica Mann.
By Gregory Walton
Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein‘s lawyer claimed on Thursday that one of his accusers had only made allegations of sexual assault to prosecutors so she could sue the wealthy Hollywood linchpin.
Miriam Haley, 48, is one of dozens of women who have accused Weinstein of harassment, sexual assault or rape – a list that includes Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd.
Their accounts helped galvanise the #MeToo movement nearly a decade ago, but are being re-litigated as Weinstein faces a new trial in New York.
Witness Miriam Haley arrives at the courthouse to testify against former Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein. Photo / AFP
Seeking to support
Haley strongly rejected the attorney’s suggestion as she was cross-examined in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday, saying that she had only spoken out to support and encourage other women who alleged Weinstein attacked them.
“You didn’t mention a meeting at Claridge’s in London... You didn’t mention friendly emails... you told the press only part of the story,” Weinstein’s lawyer Jennifer Bonjean said of Haley’s media appearances denouncing her client’s behaviour.
“I told the part that was relevant to what I was trying to share,” said Haley.
Weinstein’s 2020 convictions on charges relating to Haley and aspiring actress Jessica Mann were overturned last year by the New York Court of Appeals, which ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original trial was unlawful.
Back in a Manhattan courtroom, Haley has this week tearfully recalled the day in July 2006 when she says she accepted an invitation to visit Weinstein’s Soho apartment, where the alleged assault happened. At the time, she was a showbiz production assistant looking for work.
“I had [a] press conference to share what happened to me in support of the other women,” Haley said as Weinstein watched on.
Compensation denial
Haley denied that she went to the prosecutor, the Manhattan District Attorney (DA), only after she realised she could not sue Weinstein because of the statute of limitations.
“At no point in that time did I think... there would be an option to get monetary compensation,” she said during the sometimes-heated exchanges with Weinstein’s lawyer.
The lawyer alleged that the only way Haley could bring a lawsuit was if prosecutors brought charges.
“I didn’t know that,” Haley said.
“Your interest in coming forward to the DA’s office only happened after you learned that you could sue him if they brought criminal charges,” Bonjean repeated.
The former Miramax studio boss is charged in the New York retrial with the 2006 sexual assault of Haley and the 2013 rape of Mann. He also faces a new count for an alleged sexual assault of a 19-year-old in 2006.
Weinstein – the producer of a string of box office hits such as Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love – has never acknowledged any wrongdoing.
He is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted in California of raping and assaulting a European actress more than a decade ago.
