Europe looks to be the new legal battlefront for the much accused Harvey Weinstein today. First a civil suit was filed Monday in the UK alleging sexual assault by the disgraced producer. Now a complaint filed in federal court on this side of the Atlantic today by actress Kadian Noble claims Weinstein sexually assaulted her at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and TWC covered it up for another ‘Friend of Harvey.’
Actions that could constitute violations of federal sex trafficking statutes, according to the jury seeking filing.
“Harvey Weinstein was able to force or coerce Kadian into sexual activity in his hotel room because of his promise to her of a film role and use of his influence on her behalf,” the unspecified damages seeking 11-page complaint that names Weinstein, along with his brother Bob Weinstein and the struggling Weinstein Company states (read it here). “Harvey Weinstein traveled in foreign commerce, knowingly recruiting or enticing Kadian offering her something of value, knowing that he would use this offer as a means to defraud, force or coerce her into a sexual encounter, the complaint adds. “Harvey Weinstein ultimately forced Kadian into sexual acts.”
As with many of the allegations by over 80 women that have been made against Weinstein since the New York Times posted its detailed expose on October 5, this case outlines a M.O. of coercion, grabbing and masturbation by the producer. Before the incident in February 2014 at the Le Majestic Hotel in France, British citizen Noble was asked to drop off a “reel” at the TWC London office after first meeting Weinstein not long before.
And this is where TWC comes in as a defendant in many ways and the damning term “FOH.”
“TWC knowingly participated in Harvey Weinstein’s venture in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1591 (the sex trafficking statute) by benefiting from, and knowingly facilitating, the venture in which Harvey Weinstein traveled in foreign commerce to recruit or entice female actors into forced or coerced sexual encounters on the promise of roles in films or entertainment projects,” says Noble’s lawyer Jeff Herman in the complaint.
“Upon information and belief, the code word among TWC employees ‘FOH’, meant ‘Friend of Harvey’, and referred to a young woman who had participated in sex in exchange for a role or position in an upcoming project,” the complaint details. “TWC employees knew to ‘take care’ of the FOH’s,” the filing claims. “Multiple TWC employees participated in the recruitment or enticement of Kadian into a victim of a commercial sex act. In an apparent attempt to entice KADIAN into sex with Harvey Weinstein, an unnamed TWC producer told Kadian that she needed to be ‘a good girl and do whatever [he] wished’, and if she did, then ‘they will work with [her] further.'”
Bob Weinstein is a part of this action because he is alleged to have “facilitated commercial sex acts in foreign commerce” by his brother, the complaint alleges, “to obtain the enormous publicity” when the producer promoted the company’s projects around the world. That PR and hustle “financially benefitted both TWC and Bob Weinstein given his substantial interest in TWC,” claims the filing.
Both of the Weinsteins own 23% each of the now on financial life support TWC.
Bob Weinstein and TWC did not respond to request for comment on the complaint. “Mr. Weinstein denies allegations of non-consensual sex,” said reps for Harvey Weinstein in language they’ve used before. “Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.”
If the name of Kadian Noble’s lawyer seems familiar, it should. Herman is the same lawyer who is representing Dominique Huett in her October 24 filed $5 million suit against TWC. That LA Superior Court complaint by sexual abuse case specialists HermanLaw alleges that Harvey Weinstein pulled the same type of sexual assault on Huett back in 2010 at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Facing numerous lawsuits now, Weinstein is under investigation by the NYPD, the LAPD, the Beverly Hills Police and UK police for acts of sexual assaults in their respective jurisdictions.
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