Harvey Weinstein’s troubles with federal investigators have expanded yet again, as the U.S. Attorney’s office in New York has opened an investigation into the producer’s involvement with the private spy firm Black Cube.
According to The Wall Street Journal, attorneys are investigating to see if Weinstein violated federal wire fraud laws as he employed the firm. According to Ronan Farrow’s report on Weinstein published in The New Yorker last October, Weinstein hired Black Cube to gather information on the women accusing him of sexual assault, including actress Rose McGowan. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
In a statement sent to TheWrap, Weinstein’s attorney Ben Brafman says that he has met with the federal attorneys and assured them that Weinstein hired Black Cube solely to “to effectively defend himself through legal action from serious and patently false allegations.” Brafman also said that Black Cube was supervised by lawyers based in New York and Los Angeles whom Weinstein “believed would never have authorized illegal activity of any kind.”
“If anything, recent developments have demonstrated the reckless disregard for the truth by certain of the key figures, whose accusations fueled the Weinstein investigation,” the statement read, likely referring to the recent news that Asia Argento, one of Weinstein’s most prominent accusers, was herself accused of sexual assault.
Weinstein was arraigned in New York this summer on six charges, including rape and criminal sexual acts. He has denied all wrongdoing, and is still being investigated by police in Los Angeles and London. A court date has not yet been set.