In a new interview, Bob Weinstein reveals that he gave his brother Harvey $600,000 in payout money to help conceal sexual harassment allegations from Harvey’s wife, Georgina Chapman.
The payouts reportedly took place in England in the 1990s, with Bob using his own money to hide the incidents from Chapman, as well as Miramax executives and the studio’s parent company, Disney, according to People.
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However, Bob claims that he was not specifically aware of what the large sum of money was for, just that Harvey needed it to keep his indiscretions secret.
“Regarding that payment, I only know what Harvey told me, and basically what he said was he was fooling around with two women and they were asking for money,” Bob told Ronan Farrow. “And he didn’t want his wife to find out, so he asked me if I could write a check, and so I did, but there was nothing to indicate any kind of sexual harassment.”
A former senior executive at Miramax spoke out about Bob Weinstein’s statement and said that it was “implausible” Bob would not have known about the allegations, as they were even reported to the studio directly.
In response to Bob’s claims, a representative for Harvey provided a statement saying, “Because of the pending civil litigation and related investigations, it is inappropriate to respond specifically to each of the unsupported and untruthful insinuations contained in this article.“
“Suffice it to say, Mr. Weinstein strongly objects to any suggestion that his conduct at any time has ever been contrary to law. Be assured that we will respond in any appropriate legal forum, where necessary, and fully expect that Mr. Weinstein will prevail against any claim of legal wrongdoing,“ the statement continued.
“Mr. Weinstein categorically denies ever engaging in any non-consensual sexual conduct with anyone and any suggestion that he acted improperly to defend himself against such claims is simply wrong,“ the statement concluded.
