In a statement Wednesday night, CAA denied an accusation by actress Julia Ormond that it enabled and abetted Harvey Weinstein’s predatory behavior, and vowed to “vigorously refute” that accusation in court.
In a lawsuit filed earlier Tuesday, Ormond accused the imprisoned former movie mogul of raping her in 1995. The lawsuit also named CAA and Disney as defendants, and said the companies, which owned Weinstein’s Miramax studio from 1995-2010, knew that the rape had taken place but did nothing to protect her from Weinstein. At the time, CAA also represented Ormond.
In its own statement Wednesday, the agency powerhouse said it “takes all allegations of sexual assault and abuse seriously, and has compassion for Ms. Ormond and the experience she described in her complaint. However, the claims that Ms. Ormond has levied against the agency are completely without merit.”
According to CAA, Ormond contacted the agency last March about her accusations, at which point the company “retained attorney Loretta Lynch and her law firm, Paul Weiss, to defend the company. Their review found nothing to support Ms. Ormond’s claims against CAA.”
CAA says it subsequently received a “demand” for “$15,000,000 in exchange for Ms. Ormond not making the allegations against CAA public. CAA immediately rejected this demand. Out of respect for Ms. Ormond, CAA shared the results of Paul Weiss’ investigation with her, through her counsel, providing evidence of a dynamic and engaged relationship between CAA and Ms. Ormond, and the agency’s consistent efforts to support her career throughout her time at the agency, from 1995 – 1999.”
“Ormond’s claims against CAA are baseless, and the agency will vigorously refute them in court,” the company’s statement concluded.
In response, Ormond’s attorneys said in a statement provided to TheWrap, “CAA admits that they hired Loretta Lynch to ‘defend’ them. It’s not surprising, therefore, that she found nothing to support our client’s claims. I should also add that Ms. Lynch believes, contrary to what everyone knows, that the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would be a fair arbitrator in the historic race discrimination claim we have brought against the NFL. It is rather obvious that after years of public service, large deep pocketed corporate defendants have turned to Ms. Lynch for cover and she has willingly accepted her new role. Rest assured, we will expose the real facts.”
Ormand’s lawsuit argues that the rape “could have been prevented if Miramax or Disney had properly supervised Weinstein and not retained him while knowing that he was a danger to the women he encountered at work.”
Ormand also alleged that her representatives at CAA talked her out of filing charges or suing Weinstein.
Disney has not yet responded to a request for comment from TheWrap. Representatives for Weinstein, who is currently serving a 16-year sentence for rape in Los Angeles and has also been sentenced to 23 years in New York for sex crimes committed there, have also not responded to a request for comment.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
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