So much for the protestations of innocence.
Harvey’s brother and fellow co-founder Bob Weinstein, as well as the company’s president, David Glasser, had told concerned staff as recently as Tuesday that they were shocked and unaware of the confidential settlements made with various women.
However, according to a clause in his 2015 contract, if the movie mogul was charged with sexual harassment he was in charge of all legal payouts and had to pay an additional fine to the company.
‘You [Weinstein] will pay the company liquidated damages of $250,000 for the first such instance, $500,000 for the second such instance, $750,000 for the third such instance, and $1,000,000 for each additional instance,’ the contract reads.According to the document, as long as Weinstein pays it constitutes a ‘cure’ for any misconduct and no further action can or will be taken.
In more simple terms, that means that no matter how many times he is sued – as long as he is willing to pay he won’t be fired.
If Weinstein were to ever be indicted for a crime the contract contains language that would allow the Board of Directors to fire him.
No, but you see, it was only “to cover consensual affairs.” Sure it was. Good luck trying to hold that line of defense.
UPDATE: And the knives are now out, now that it is clearly safe to declare opposition.
Hachette Book Group is disbanding the company’s Weinstein Books imprint, effective immediately.
“Going forward, titles currently under the Weinstein Books imprint will be published by our Hachette Books imprint, and the Weinstein Books imprint team will join Hachette Books,” the company said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
Perseus Books, which is part of Hachette, has had a co-publishing agreement with The Weinstein Co. that has produced about 10 books a year.
UPDATE: Ronan Farrow deserves all the credit he is getting, and then some. When NBC shut down his investigation, he kept it going on his own dime, then brought it to the New Yorker. Suffice it to say this is NOT normal journalistic behavior.