Will not be charged
After a two-week probe, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office will not prosecute Weinstein in the alleged “casting couch” groping of Battilana in his Tribeca office. DA spokesperson:.
This case was taken seriously from the outset, with a thorough investigation conducted by our Sex Crimes Unit. After analyzing the available evidence, including multiple interviews with both parties, a criminal charge is not supported.
Weinstein spokesperson:
We are pleased this episode is behind us.
Groping accusation
Battilana accuses Weinstein of grabbing her breasts and slipping a hand under her skirt during a “business meeting.” She says she went to Weinstein’s third-floor office the day after the pair met on the red carpet at a Radio City Music Hall event. Police:
He initiated the contact. He saw her and spoke to her. She didn’t know who he was until he approached her.
Police say the get-together was billed as a chance for Battilana to discuss her career with the producer, but she claims Weinstein asked if her breasts were real before ignoring his protests and groping her and slipping a hand under her skirt. She tells police he finally backed off after she rejected his request for a kiss. Police:
He asked if her breasts were real before touching them. She asked him to stop, and he put his hand up her skirt. He asked for a kiss; she responded ‘No’.
After leaving Weinstein’s office Battilana contacted a friend and went to the police with her allegations later that night. The friend took her to the 9th Precinct stationhouse in the East Village, and officers there drove her to the 1st Precinct station in Tribeca to report the incident.
Questioned by police
Police question Weinstein after a young woman claims he groped her at the Tribeca Film Center. No charges have been filed.
He initiated the contact. He saw her and spoke to her. She didn’t know who he was until he approached her.
Harvey Weinstein interview
Seacrest intervews Weinstein during On Air With Ryan Seacrest about his film The Intouchables.
It’s a true story about a kid from the streets who has no pity for a billionaire French man who lost his wife, who’s a daredevil, crashes his car, and he becomes paraplegic, can’t feel anything, and he wants a guy with no pity. By the end of the movie the two unlikeliest of friends become buddies, they crash cars, they meet girls, they have so much fun, and the scene where they jump out of the airplane? That is for real. The 2 actors literally did it.
Wins Oscar
Producers David Parfitt, Donna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick and Marc Norman win the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1998 for Shakespeare in Love. Harrison Ford presents the award. Weinstein:
I don’t know, we made this movie — this is a movie about life and art. And art and life combining is called magic. For me, this was a great experience, a passion, for five years.
