As NYC Rape Retrial Looms, Harvey Weinstein Sues Brother & TWC Execs Over $45M Loan From 2016

The Weinstein Company in 2016.

Seeking a self-described “claw back of any improperly appropriated or ill gained assets and/or monetary sums taken by Third-Party Defendants” and other damages, Weinstein’s filing is “an action for fraud arising from the Defendants’ inducement of Weinstein to sign as a personal guarantor for a $45 million business loan from AI International Holdings (BVI) Limited to TWC Borrower 2016, LLC, which the Defendants then pilfered and misappropriated for their own uses and benefits, in blatant violation of the loan’s intended purpose, wrongfully leaving Weinstein solely liable for repayment when AI International, as the lender, sought to enforce the guarantee.”

Which is a fancy way of saying Harvey Weinstein believes Bob Weinstein, now Studio 101 boss Glasser, accountant Irwin Reiter and almost a dozen John Doe and Jane Doe defendants screwed him and left him holding the bag while they made off with millions. “This mismanagement left the Companies unable to satisfy their financial obligations, resulting in insolvency and placing Weinstein at substantial personal financial risk as the guarantor of the Loan,” the February 13 jury trial filing in New York state court declares.

The 22-page document contains alleged examples of Glasser paying out $1 million to his father plus $5 million in bonuses and Bob Weinstein snagging $6 million from TWC accounts for his own use. At the center of the extensive sex crimes revelations that brought Weinstein down in 2017, Reiter receives specific bile in the filing as he is accused of deliberately failing “to take action to prevent or report the self-dealing and misappropriations that contributed to Companies’ insolvency.”

“It was shocking to discover the fraudulent transactions that went on to get me out of the company,” the much accused Weinstein said in a statement Monday to Deadline of the deal with the Len Blavatnik-owned AI International. “I believe that a number of these executives played a big part in my demise.” Or, as the complaint states:

The Companies’ cash deficit and inability to satisfy the Loan triggered settlement negotiations with AI International, which Robert and Glasser conducted with fraudulent and disloyal intentions. Third-Party Defendants reached a self-serving agreement with AI International to settle the debt for a significantly discounted payment of approximately $15 million. Under this settlement, Third-Party Defendants secured a release from liability for the Loan while intentionally leaving Weinstein exposed to the full balance of the Loan— approximately $30 million plus interest—to compensate for the reduced payment.

Third-Party Defendants, acting individually and in concert, knowingly and fraudulently induced Weinstein to personally guarantee the Loan by misrepresenting the intended use of the funds as being for legitimate purposes related to the Companies.

Bob Weinstein’s attorney  Brian Kohn said in a statement on February 14 that “Harvey’s allegations are entirely without merit.” Yellowstone executive producer David Glasser did not respond to request for comment on the latest filing in the sordid Weinstein saga.

However, if some of this sounds familiar, it is. Wrapped up in the messy Lantern Capital $299 million purchase of the remains of TWC, almost all of this was extinguished in 2018 and by a dismissal by AI International in 2023 due to TWC’s bankruptcy filing of a few years beforehand. A state of affairs that mean most of it will likely be challenged within weeks in court by lawyers for Bob Weinstein, Glasser and others. Moves that could prove crippling to the plaintiff here especially being that Harvey Weinstein had his lawyers crack open the possibility of further legal action after it looked like this whole thing was over and done two years ago.

With constant speculation as to where the assetless Weinstein gets his money from to keep an infantry of lawyers and publicists paid all these years (though there is some belief it may be Lord of the Rings royalties from the Oscar winning trilogy in which he had a small personal stake), this new suit could be an optimistic quick cash grab in hopes of a settlement to make it go away.

In that context, sitting in a cell in Rikers Island watching movies and shows on his phone (I’m told), the which was added to the indictment last September. Even though a 4-3 panel of New York appeals court judges dismissed the 2020 conviction last April on the grounds prosecutors had erred by allowing the testimony of other Weinstein accusers whose claims were not being tried, the producer remains behind bars because of his 2022 conviction in Los Angeles on sex crimes and sentencing to 16 years, which is now also under appeal.

On the West Coast, Weinstein saw a sudden change of fortune earlier this month when a Jane Doe whose 2013 rape claims against the producer contributed to his L.A. criminal conviction dropped her civil case. Just weeks before the matter was to go to trial on March 24, Doe’s lawyers asked L.A. Superior Court Judge Elaine W. Mandel on February 4 to dismiss the sexual battery, false imprisonment, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress case without prejudice.

Though that means the matter isn’t totally dead and could be refiled, Weinstein’s L.A. legal team took the stance that this was over and done. “JD#1’s legal team dropped her civil case to avoid exposing exculpatory evidence crucial to Harvey’s appeal and possible retrial,” they said in a statement to Deadline. “This move was a calculated effort to shield damaging truths that we all know wouldn’t help solidify her narrative.”

Where this all goes next, on either coast and with Weinstein’s ongoing $5 million suit against New York over “deplorable” conditions at Rikers, is anyone’s guess.