Less than a month after publishing a report in The New Yorker detailing the stories of Harvey Weinstein's accusers, Ronan Farrow has written another chilling piece for the same publication.
Farrow's latest article, "Harvey Weinstein's Army Of Spies," reports that the film executive hired private investigators to gather unflattering information about Weinstein's accusers and journalists who were looking into the allegations.
Farrow says he obtained "dozens of pages of documents" and received confirmation from "seven people directly involved in the effort." He reports that Weinstein hired powerhouse intelligence companies to get information about actresses including Rose McGowan. They reportedly were asked to find individuals with negative assessments of the women and gather information about the accusers' sexual histories.
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If this account is accurate, it's yet another damning piece of information that confirms Weinstein is indeed the calculating, methodical predator that dozens of women have described as their assailant. It's most definitely not the Weinstein who painted himself as bumbling and clueless when he responded to the The New York Times article with a statement that he "came of age" during an era when workplace culture was "different" and therefore his actions were the result of ignorance, not predation and abuse of power.
In a particularly chilling detail, undercover agents from Black Cube reportedly zeroed in on Rose McGowan, who named Weinstein as her rapist last month. According to Farrow's report, one of the undercover agents posed as a women's rights advocate and "secretly recorded at least four meetings with McGowan."
After a woman has already allegedly been violated in such a terrible way, it's incredibly disturbing that another woman pretended to be an ally in order to damage McGowan's credibility — and it's a somber reminder that, yes, women participate in rape culture. And this particular woman likely gained a hefty paycheck for misleading and manipulating an alleged rape victim.
Journalists working to expose Weinstein were also reportedly targeted. The late David Carr, who was working on a report for New York, reportedly became the subject of Kroll's attention when the firm was instructed to find information that would undermine Carr's credibility.
If you have experienced sexual violence and are in need of crisis support, please call the RAINN Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
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