Actress Rose McGowan filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging that Harvey Weinstein and two of his former attorneys engaged in racketeering to silence her and shut down her career before she accused him of rape.
The suit filed in Los Angeles names as defendants Weinstein, attorneys David Boies and Lisa Bloom, and Black Cube, an Israeli intelligence firm hired by Weinstein.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants conspired to defraud, smear and marginalize McGowan as she was preparing to name Weinstein during the run-up to the explosion of the #MeToo movement late in 2017.
“Harvey Weinstein was able to perpetrate and cover up decades of violence and control over women because he had a sophisticated team working on his behalf to systematically silence and discredit his victims,” McGowan said in a statement. “My life was upended by their actions, and I refuse to be intimidated any longer.”
Bloom’s attorney, Eric M. George, said in a statement that it “is inexcusable that Ms. McGowan chose to include my client in her lawsuit. Facts matter. There is simply no credible factual or legal basis for her claims against my client. We look forward to our day in court to set the record straight.”
Emails seeking comment from the other defendants were not immediately returned.
McGowan, 46, was one of the earliest and one of the most prominent of dozens of women to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct, making her a major figure in the #MeToo movement.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they are victims of sexual assault, unless they speak publicly as McGowan has done.
Weinstein, 67, is scheduled for trial in January on charges alleging that he raped an unidentified woman in his Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006.
He is also facing several other lawsuits stemming from the sexual misconduct allegations, including a defamation suit from actress Ashley Judd.
The former movie mogul has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.
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