Attorney’s for the creditor’s committee in The Weinstein Co. bankruptcy case want to make sure that co-founder Bob Weinstein or any other senior-level management will no longer be involved in the company after its sale.
In court documents filed Monday — an email exchange between James Stang, lead attorney for the creditor’s committee, and TWC lawyer Karin DeMasi — it was revealed that the committee wants the removal any top executive whom they feel might have been responsible for the workplace environment that led to dozens of accusations of misconduct by fired CEO Harvey Weinstein.
DeMasi wanted to put the kibosh on a scheduled deposition of Bob Weinstein’s former assistant.
“The deposition is intended to be used if any of the bidders fail to confirm to the Committee’s satisfaction that senior management who may have been responsible for the work environment are excluded from the buyer’s post-closing enterprise,” Stang wrote in his email to DeMasi.
DeMasi argued that the deposition would be a waste of time and resources since Robert Del Genio, TWC’s chief restructuring officer and a senior managing director at FTI Consulting, testified on April 30 on behalf of the debtors that no senior management would be involved with the post-sale company, to the best of his knowledge.
In another document filed with the court on Monday, the committee of unsecured creditors say they are concerned that TWC or stalking-horse bidder Lantern Capital Partners could release Weinstein, former president David Glasser or any other party from being exposed to liabilities.
“However remote the possibility, the committee cannot risk the unintentional release of an individual that was involved with the alleged wrongdoings that resulted in these chapter 11 cases,” the filing states.
A November report by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker found that Weinstein had personally paid £250,000 to settle two employees’ sexual misconduct claims against his brother, Harvey Weinstein, during their time at Miramax nearly two decades ago.
That would be roughly $600,000 today — or $400,000 at the time, according to 1998 exchange rates.
Bob Weinstein, who has had harassment claims brought against him as well, is widely believed to have been aware of his brother’s misconduct.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this reporting.