New Yorker report alleges that Harvey Weinstein assaulted multiple women

Five days after the New York Times’ bombshell report on Harvey Weinstein, the New Yorker has published an exhaustive investigation by Ronan Farrow that includes even more jaw-dropping allegations of systematic intimidation and serial sexual harassment and assault by the film studio co-founder.

Accusers who share their stories in the piece, reported over a 10-month period, include well-known actresses such as Rosanna Arquette, Mira Sorvino and Asia Argento, as well as a number of aspiring actresses and producers. The report also features an audio recording apparently of Weinstein pressuring one of his accusers, an Italian model named Ambra Battilana Gutierrez.

Some of the key claims in the article:

• Actress Lucia Stoller, then a college student, says Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him during what was billed as a casting meeting at the Miramax offices in 2004.
• Actress-director Argento alleged that Weinstein invited her to what was supposed to be a party at a hotel on the French Riviera in 1997. When she arrived, only Weinstein was there. After changing into a bathrobe, he forcibly performed oral sex on her. Argento entered into what she describes as a years-long coercive sexual relationship with him. “After the rape, he won,” she told Farrow.
• Actress Sorvino says that Weinstein tried to give her a massage and “chas[ed] her around” in a hotel room at the Toronto Film Festival in 1995, and later showed up at her New York apartment in the middle of the night. She believes her rebuff of his advances damaged her career.
• Gutierrez, an Italian model and beauty pageant contestant, says she was groped by Weinstein during a meeting in 2015. She reported the assault to the New York Police Department, and the next day, wearing a wire, met with Weinstein at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. In audio footage obtained by the New Yorker, Gutierrez objects to Weinstein’s behavior the day before and an agitated Weinstein can be heard telling Gutierrez, “I’m a famous guy ... I’m used to that,” and repeatedly urges her not to “embarrass” him. Despite the recording, the Manhattan district attorney declined to pursue criminal charges, possibly because Gutierrez had once attended a party thrown by Silvio Berlusconi and was not considered “credible.”
• French actress Emma de Caunes alleges that in 2010, Weinstein invited her to his hotel room in Paris to discuss a book he wanted to adapt. He emerged from the bathroom naked and with an erection. She fled the room.
• Actress Arquette says she went to the Beverly Hills Hotel in the early ‘90s to get a script from Weinstein. He showed up at the door in a bathrobe and asked for a massage, then placed her hand on his erect penis. She says her career suffered after she rejected Weinstein.
• According to employees, Weinstein often enlisted female executives as “honeypots” to attend meetings with actresses and models in order to make them feel safe, but then would be dismissed.
• Assistants kept track of these young women, who were filed under the label “F.O.H.” -- “friend of Harvey.”

Through a representative, Weinstein issued a statement to the New Yorker:

“Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.”

Update, 9:45 a.m.: This story was updated with Weinstein’s statement.