NY State files lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein's Company

The State of New York has filed a lawsuit against The Weinstein Company, Mr Weinstein and his brother accusing them of not protecting their employees from sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation from Harvey Weinstein himself and other executives.

The attorney general for the State of New York, Eric Schneiderman said the "harassment and intimidation culture" had served to mask the actions of the company and of Harvey Weinstein, ensuring victims' silence through confidentiality agreements impeding them from sharing their experiences while working at the company.

In the lawsuit, the state's Supreme Court pointed out the multiple serious violations of the State of New York's civil rights code and of mercantile laws arising from the accusations from the victims.

The lawsuit followed a four-month investigation that revealed that Mr Weinstein had intimated the victims verbally, threatening to kill them and their families, demanding sexual favours in exchange for promotions and undermining female workers by insulting them in their work environment.

The company was also accused of not investigating the womens' claims, instead concealing the events. It was also accused of crafting a contract for Mr Weinstein that, while penalising him financially for any mistreatment claims would in effect see the company, of which he was one of the owners, to generate a profit from sexual harassment.

Under the terms of that contract, Mr Weinstein would have to pay a fine to the company in exchange for it keeping his behaviour secret.

Schneiderman also took into account the possibility of an imminent sale of the company that might have left the victims without compensation and enabled the authors of the crimes and those who hid them to earn a profit from the sale, even while safeguarding some of their executive positions at the new company.

"Any sale of The Weinstein Company must ensure that victims will be compensated, employees will be protected going forward, and that neither perpetrators nor enablers will be unjustly enriched," Schneiderman said.

The lawsuit was also seen as a way of guaranteeing that the victims received the compensation that they were owed by the company, with the quantum covering the sum of both the damages pursued and the related penalties.

According to Reuters, the lawsuit resulted in talks to sell the company being put on hold.