Report say that Harvey Weinstein used ex-spies and private detectives to stop publicists

A new report from the New Yorker details the failed elaborate devices from Harvey Weinstein to keep allegations of his sexual assault behavior from surfacing.

Weinstein paid a group of private security agencies — which includes detectives, lawyers and undercover Mossad agents (aka ex-spies), according to the New York Times — to attempt from keeping his secrets revealed.

These agencies were required to collect dirt on those coming forward with allegations — including Rose McGowan, Rosanna Arquette, Annabella Sciorra and others — by posing as women’s rights advocates who would befriend and then spy on the victims. These same agencies also masqueraded as a woman with an allegation against Weinstein in order to lure other journalists into sharing whatever information they had on other accusers.

The agencies involved include Kroll, which is one of the largest corporate-intelligence companies in the world, and Black Cube, the group run by the ex-spies. “Black Cube, which has branches in Tel Aviv, London and Paris, offers its clients the skills of operatives ‘highly experienced and trained in Israel’s elite military and government intelligence units,’ according to its literature,” said Ronan Farrow of the New Yorker.

The contract between Black Cube and Weinstein included a signature from David Boies, one of Weinstein’s lawyers who also has represented the New York Times in the past. “We learned today that the law firm of Boies Schiller and Flexner secretly worked to stop our reporting on Harvey Weinstein at the same time as the firm’s lawyers were representing us in other matters,” the Times said in a statement following the release of the information. “We consider this intolerable conduct, a grave betrayal of trust, and a breach of the basic professional standards that all lawyers are required to observe. It is inexcusable and we will be pursuing appropriate remedies.”

The New Yorker article claims that Harvey Weinstein has been using investigators to undermine reporters and victims for over a decade. Now that the news of Weinstein has broke, several women have said that the security agencies made it harder to speak out. “It scared me,” Sciorra told the New Yorker, “because I knew what it means to be threatened by Harvey. I was in fear of him finding me.” McGowan also knew of the security. “It was like the movie Gaslight,” she said. “Everyone lied to me all the time. I’ve lived inside a mirrored fun house.”