Weinstein Was a ‘Predator’ With ‘Insurance,’ Prosecutor Says

(Bloomberg) -- Harvey Weinstein was a “predator” who used his position as a powerful Hollywood producer to attack women he viewed as disposable, prosecutor Joan Illuzzi told jurors at the movie mogul’s rape trial.

He “was a master of his universe and the witnesses were merely ants he could step on without consequence,” Illuzzi told jurors in her closing argument Friday.

Weinstein, 67, is accused of raping aspiring actor Jessica Mann in a Midtown Manhattan hotel room in March 2013 and performing non-consensual sex on “Project Runway” assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haley in July 2006. If convicted of the most serious charge of predatory sexual assault, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

During the trial, prosecutors also called actor Annabella Sciorra, who said Weinstein raped her in the early 1990s, and
three other women who testified that he sexually assaulted them. Prosecutors called Sciorra to support the predatory sexual assault charge. Her allegations are too old to be prosecuted under New York state law. They called the other three women as witnesses to show the producer had a pattern of behavior.

INSURANCE POLICY

Illuzzi told jurors that Weinstein had what she called “a surefire insurance policy” assuring that aspiring actors he assaulted would never come forward, knowing the power he wielded in the industry.

The producer further kept tabs on the women he assaulted, she said, “to make sure that one day they wouldn’t walk out of the shadows and call him exactly what he was, an abusive rapist.”

Weinstein’s tactics included bullying, threats and also the hiring of private detectives, Illuzzi said. She cited evidence that he hired the Black Cube firm -- founded by former Israeli intelligence officers -- to investigate Sciorra just as reporters began making inquiries about allegations the producer had a history of abusing women.

The prosecutor challenged the argument posed by Weinstein lawyer Donna Rotunno on Thursday that Weinstein’s accusers had “chosen” to be involved in consensual sexual encounters with him or that they’d come forward to advance their careers. She said it was Weinstein who chose vulnerable women who he viewed as “insignificant” and “complete disposables” who he knew would never report him.

PREDATOR’S ‘HALLMARK’

If some of Weinstein’s accusers -- such as Mann -- maintained some kind of contact with him after the assaults, Illuzzi said it was because they feared his power and mistakenly believed they were the only victims.

“That’s the hallmark of a predator -- isolate, isolate, isolate,” she said. “When you are the only one and he is a giant, not only in his own industry but he is somebody who gets presidents on the phone and he is talking to A-Listers, people you will never meet in your entire life, you know what? You are really freaking hesitant to report and not just keep the peace.”

While Rotunno argued the accusers only came forward to further their careers, the prosecutor highlighted the womens’ wrenching testimony in which they described their encounters with Weinstein in graphic detail and submitted to grueling cross-examination by his lawyers. Illuzzi disputed the defense’s claim the accusers only wanted to sue Weinstein to win a payout.

“They didn’t come for a beauty contest, didn’t come for money, didn’t come for fame, they came to be heard,” she said. “They sacrificed their dignity, their privacy and their peace for the prospect of having that voice and their voices would be enough for justice.”

New York State Court Justice James Burke, who’s been presiding over the trial, told jurors that he will instruct them on the law and they should expect to start their deliberations on Feb. 18.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in Federal Court in Manhattan at pathurtado@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider

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