Weinstein Hired Private Security Firms to Track His Accusers, Report Alleges

A startling new report by journalist Ronan Farrow alleges that Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein hired private security firms to track and investigate actresses and journalists in an effort to protect his own image. Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual harassing and assaulting numerous women throughout his decades in Hollywood, reportedly contracted the security firms “to stop the publication of the abuse allegations,” Farrow writes.

Farrow, who helped break the initial Weinstein scandal in a piece for The New Yorker in October, now writes:

 According to dozens of pages of documents, and seven people directly involved in the effort, the firms that Weinstein hired included Kroll, which is one of the world’s largest corporate-intelligence companies, and Black Cube, an enterprise run largely by former officers of Mossad and other Israeli intelligence agencies. Black Cube, which has branches in Tel Aviv, London, and Paris, offers its clients the skills of operatives “highly experienced and trained in Israel’s elite military and governmental intelligence units,” according to its literature. …

Over the course of a year, Weinstein had the agencies “target,” or collect information on, dozens of individuals, and compile psychological profiles that sometimes focused on their personal or sexual histories. Weinstein monitored the progress of the investigations personally. He also enlisted former employees from his film enterprises to join in the effort, collecting names and placing calls that, according to some sources who received them, felt intimidating.

Farrow goes on to detail Black Cube’s sending agents to engage with actress Rose McGowan and other reporters, as well as its efforts to obtain transcripts of McGowan’s memoir, “Brave,” to be published in January. Black Cube declined to comment on the specific nature of its work for Weinstein.

McGowan responded to Farrow’s latest piece on Twitter:

Ronan Farrow your words will line the halls of justice

— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) November 7, 2017

Weinstein didn’t employ only Black Cube, Farrow continues; he “also enlisted … journalists to uncover information that he could use to undermine women with allegations.” In addition, he contracted other security firms, which were “involved in assembling such profiles, including ones that focused on factors that, in theory, might make women likely to speak out against sexual abuse,” Farrow states.

“All of the security firms that Weinstein hired were also involved in trying to ferret out reporters’ sources and probe their backgrounds,” Farrow adds.

Farrow has since appeared on television to break down the “international campaign” Weinstein engaged in to silence his accusers. Watch an interview here and read Farrow’s entire report here.

–Posted by Emma Niles.