There have been several accusations against Harvey Weinstein in recent weeks, alleging decades of sexual harassment, assault, and rape committed against women in the film industry. Recently, Ronan Farrow, the writer behind a piece for The New Yorker and spoke to a number of women who were willing to go on the record with their own allegations about Weinstein’s behavior. Farrow explained on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that this was to expose “this machine that was so instrumental in keeping this quiet as long as it was quiet.”
Farrow also revealed on Tuesday a new report in The New Yorker detailing the lengths Weinstein went to in order to hide his alleged behavior. According to the report, Weinstein employed an extensive network of investigators and ex-Mossad agents to silence his victims.
“Two private investigators from Black Cube, using false identities, met with the actress Rose McGowan, who eventually publicly accused Weinstein of rape, to extract information from her. One of the investigators pretended to be a women’s-rights advocate and secretly recorded at least four meetings with McGowan. The same operative, using a different false identity and implying that she had an allegation against Weinstein, met twice with a journalist to find out which women were talking to the press. In other cases, journalists directed by Weinstein or the private investigators interviewed women and reported back the details.”
The article goes into detail into Weinstein’s intimidation tactics including using his influence to bully actresses, media personalities, and journalists who had the ability to expose him.
“The explicit goal of the investigations, laid out in one contract with Black Cube, signed in July, was to stop the publication of the abuse allegations against Weinstein that eventually emerged in the New York Times and The New Yorker. Over the course of a year, Weinstein had the agencies “target,” or collect information on, dozens of individuals, and compile psychological profiles that sometimes focussed on their personal or sexual histories. Weinstein monitored the progress of the investigations personally. He also enlisted former employees from his film enterprises to join in the effort, collecting names and placing calls that, according to some sources who received them, felt intimidating.”
The LAPD and the NYPD are investigating Weinstein following allegations of rape.