Rose McGowan files federal lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein, Lisa Bloom

Actress Rose McGowan on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and his legal and security teams, alleging their efforts to suppress sexual assault and harassment allegations against him violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act).
In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court in California, McGowan alleges that Weinstein launched an effort involving “some of the most powerful forces that money can buy,” including attorney David Boies and Israeli security firm Black Cube, after learning she planned to allege in her 2018 memoir “Brave” that he raped her in 1997.
{mosads}Weinstein “relied on his co-conspirators, including Defendants, to seek and suppress information about other women who might reveal his misconduct, harm his reputation, and potentially report his sexual misconduct,” the lawsuit claims. “Together, they worked in concert for more than a year to silence Weinstein’s victims and the journalists who were reporting Weinstein’s abuses.”
“With McGowan specifically, Defendants tried steal McGowan’s unpublished book, attempted to buy McGowan’s silence, and planned — in the event that they could not intimidate McGowan into withholding her book — to undermine McGowan’s reputation, such that she would not be believed,” it adds, alleging violations of federal and state laws.
The 11-count lawsuit alleges two counts of violating the RICO Act, as well as wiretapping, fraud and violating the Bane Act, a California anti-intimidation/coercion statute.
Weinstein is currently facing criminal charges involving alleged sexual assaults on two women and has been accused in relation to more than 80 women overall. He has denied all the allegations.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.