As New York launches an investigation of The Weinstein Company, one of Harvey Weinstein’s former assistants has broken her non-disclosure agreement to discuss his behavior.
On Monday, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that his office would open a civil rights investigation of The Weinstein Company following allegations of sexual assault against producer Harvey Weinstein. The investigation will focus on determining whether employees of the company in New York City were subject to harassment or discrimination. The office has issued a subpoena for all company records.
Meanwhile, Zelda Perkins, a former assistant to Harvey Weinstein in the London offices of Miramax, has broken a non-disclosure agreement she says she signed 19 years ago. In an interview with the Financial Times, Perkins said she and a colleague sought damages from Weinstein at the advice of the legal firm Simons Muirhead & Burton in London after the colleague claimed that Weinstein had sexually assaulted her. Perkins also said she experienced ongoing sexual harassment by Weinstein. A reported settlement of £250,000 was agreed to in October 1998 and divided between the women.
The Financial Times said lawyers who represented each side of the agreement declined to comment on the NDA.
According to Perkins, the agreement created a complaints procedure at Miramax and stipulated that Weinstein should receive therapy. As part of the complaints procedure, the FT reports, the agreement stipulated that if another complaint resulted in a settlement “of either £35,000 or six months’ salary” within two years of the agreement, Miramax would have to either notify the parent company at the time, Disney, or fire Weinstein.
Perkins also recounted the “heavy emotional toll” of negotiating the settlement and the NDA. She called the agreements “egregious” and advocated for a debate about the agreements themselves and their impact on victims.