He was unsuccessful in silencing his accusers in the end, but he went to extreme lengths to try to.
Just over a month has passed since several women came forward with similar accusations of sexual harassment regarding Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
It was revealed on Tuesday morning, in an investigative report by The New Yorker writer Ronan Farrow, that there was a “machine that was so instrumental in keeping this quiet as long as it was quiet.”
Farrow delivered a detailed 5,300-word report for The New Yorker magazine titled “Harvey Weinstein’s Army of Spies,” where he describes the shadowy and elaborate plan concocted by the producer to try and silence his accusers and stop their stories from being released.
Actress Rose McGowan – one of the first people to speak out against Weinstein – was among those who said she was targeted by Weinstein’s gang of private investigators.
Weinstein hired private security firms to gather information on McGowan and other women as well as several other journalists who were investigating Weinstein’s actions.
The companies involved were Kroll, which is a major, corporate investigations and risk consulting firm based in Manhatten as well as Black Cube which is a Tel Aviv-based intelligence firm whose leaders include former officers of the leading spy agency in Israel.
Despite Kroll playing a big part in the investigation by Weinstein, Farrow believes that “Weinstein’s intelligence-gathering operation was carried out in large part by Black Cube.”
People’s work was monitored by Weinstein and his team of spies in the hope of bullying people out of going public with the allegations.
According to the writer of the report, “Weinstein had the agencies ‘target,’ or collect information on, dozens of individuals, and compile psychological profiles that sometimes focused on their personal or sexual histories.
“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,” Farrow said.
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