Harvey Weinstein Asked $25 Million Emergency Cash From Netflix Before Scandal Broke
As film producer and former The Weinstein Company head Harvey Weinstein faces several sexual harassment charges from various women, a new report claims that just weeks before his scandals broke, he had tried to raise $25 million worth of "emergency cash" from Netflix.
According to the report, Weinstein knew that The New York Times and journalist Ronan Farrow were already preparing to break the news about his history as a sex abuser to the media, so he sought emergency cash and tried to secure a "lifeline" from Netflix. A source claims that he even sought to sell off a portion of his rights to his movie library just to secure the $25 million, but the Netflix executives were not moved by his offer.
"Clearly Harvey didn't go to Netflix saying he needed 'hush money.' He put it into a business context, saying he was looking to sell the rights to parts of his catalog. But they were wise to decline," the source revealed.
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Following initial reports about Weinstein's long history of sexual abuse, several reports surfaced to expose how he managed to continue sexually harassing women for decades without being exposed. Last month, it was revealed that he actually hired some spies to silence some of his accusers, spending a fortune on lawyers and Mossad-trained investigators in an attempt to silence and discredit his accusers. He also allegedly approached various companies to secure money without the knowledge of the Weinstein Company's board of directors. "It wasn't just Netflix that Harvey went to for money, it was a number of different companies," said the source.
Currently, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is looking into pursuing an embezzlement case against Weinstein. The lawyer is reportedly investigating if the ill-reputed film producer actually embezzled money from the Weinstein Company to buy the silence of his victims.
