Harvey Weinstein accusers tentatively agree to a $ 44 million settlement

May 24, 2019 at 03:05 UTC / Update May 24, 2019 at 03:07 UTC

By Alex Johnson and Jonathan Dienst

The lawyers tentatively reached a $ 44-million deal to resolve more than a dozen civil lawsuits charging Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein with sexual misconduct, according to a lawyer and someone familiar with the deal.

The deal was discussed Thursday during a hearing in the US Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, where the amount of the proposed settlement was not disclosed.

Robert Feinstein, a lawyer on the Weinstein Co.'s unsecured creditors' panel, Weinstein's 2005 independent film studio and his brother Bob Weinstein, told Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath that the parties planned to meet with the court's mediator. the case next week. to finalize the details.

"The ultimate goal of this mediation is to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the class action and all tort actions against Weinstein," said Feinstein.

"I do not want to exaggerate the probability, because the plan still presents challenges," he said, but he said the offer was "globally approved by the parties to the mediation" and that "I think we owe it to the process to try this. "

The proposed deal would pay women $ 30 million and set aside $ 14 million to cover legal costs, according to a source close to the talks with NBC News and the NBC "Access" television program covered by anonymity.

The transaction was completed during the bankruptcy proceedings of Weinstein Co. The extensive negotiations involved the lawyers of Weinstein, Weinstein Co., the unsecured creditors of the company and the New York Attorney General's Office.

The New York Attorney General 's Office, which had filed a lawsuit against Weinstein Co. last year for sex discrimination, had first called for the creation of a fund for sex discrimination. Aid to victims up to $ 90 million, before the plans weaken after the bankruptcy of the company.

Under the proposed regulation, which would be paid through insurance funds, no party would admit to fault, the source said. This arrangement is distinct from the criminal proceedings against Weinstein in New York for which he pleaded not guilty.

Dozens of women have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing and articles published in 2017 in the New York Times and the New Yorker detailing his alleged behavior helped spark the #MeToo movement. Weinstein denies all civil and criminal allegations, his lawyers said.