In light of the scandal that cracked open the #MeToo scandal and exposed some of the dark secrets of the Hollywood casting couch, the Weinstein Company was in the midst of closing a $500M sale of the production firm. That half a billion dollar sale to a group led by businesswoman Maria Contreras-Sweet "was about to consummate" according to the Wall Street Journal looks unlikely to occur with a recent lawsuit hanging in the balance.
New York Attorney General Schneiderman has not specifically sought a restraining order to halt the sale, but with the lawsuit looming, Contereras-Sweet and co. have decided the most prudent tactic would be to get out while the getting is still good. Initially, the agreement was to be formalized Sunday, Contreras-Sweet, former President Barack Obama's head of the Small Business Administration along with investor Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies will not
An agreement was set to be formalized Sunday to sell the Weinstein Co. to the group of investors led by Contreras-Sweet, former President Barack Obama’s head of the Small Business Administration. Among the investors was Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies. NY AG Schneiderman noted that there were issues surrounding the sale and on the day the company would have been sold filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Weinstein Co., Harvey Weinstein and brother Robert Weinstein (who had been aware of the activities).
A comment was received by New York Daily News:
<blockquote>“We expressed to them how important it is that any deal adequately compensate victims, protect employees and not reward those who enabled or perpetuated this egregious sexual misconduct,” said Schneiderman spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick. "We were surprised to learn they were not serious about discussing any of those issues or even sharing the most basic information about how they planned to address them.”</blockquote>
One sticking point in the lawsuit was a concern the sale “could leave survivors of Respondents’ unlawful conduct without adequate redress (and) enable perpetrators or enablers of misconduct to obtain unwarranted financial benefits.”
Stories about Weinstein's misconduct with dozens of women are still coming out. The Goldwater reported on <a href="
https://thegoldwater.com/news/17451-Uma-Thurman-Details-Harvey-Weinstein-Sexual-Misconduct">Uma Thurman's heartfelt testimony of her violation</a>. Weinstein himself has become a persona non grata, as we also recently reported, <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/15782-Harvey-Weinstein-Attacked-At-Arizona-Restaurant">Harvey was attacked in a posh Arizona restaurant</a> in January.
The <a href="https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/weinstein_company.pdf">full body of the lawsuit</a> runs 39 pages and is available at the New York Attorney General government website.
Source:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/n-y-ag-derail-500m-sale-weinstein-company-article-1.3814466
