Harvey Weinstein sexually and physically assaulted a Netflix executive over a five-year period and threatened to ruin her career if she made his conduct public, according to a lawsuit.
Alexandra Canosa, a producer on the series Marco Polo, which was executive produced by Weinstein, made the allegations in an amended complaint filed in New York supreme court on Monday. She also accuses the board of Weinstein Company of enabling the producer’s behaviour.
The claims come as a private equity company was announced as the winning bidder for the Weinstein Company, which had been filed for bankruptcy following the allegations around Weinstein’s behaviour.
In her complaint Canosa alleges that Weinstein sexually assaulted her between 2010 and 2014, and committed a further act of physical assault against her in 2015. She also claims that Weinstein verbally threatened her as recently as September 2017, less than a month before the New York Times and the New Yorker published multiple accusations of sexual assault and harassment against him.
In total Canosa details 11 alleged incidents by the producer, including rape, physical assault and verbal bullying, at hotels in Los Angeles, New York, Budapest and Malaysia.
The lawsuit alleges: “On many occasions, Harvey Weinstein insisted on meeting with plaintiff in isolated environments for business purposes, made sure that no other persons or bystanders were around when having business meetings with plaintiff, demanded sexual contact, and threatened plaintiff if she would not give him what he wanted, and forcing himself on plaintiff despite repeated requests to stop.”
It adds that Weinstein “made it clear that if [Canosa] did not succumb to his demands for sexual contact or if she exposed his unwanted conduct there would be retaliation, including humiliation, the loss of her job and loss of any ability to work in the entertainment business”.
In a statement sent to Variety, Weinstein’s attorney, Phyllis Kupferstein, said the relationship between Canosa and Weinstein was consensual.
“Ali Canosa was a friend who had worked for the Weinstein Company for 10 years, travelled the world for the company and held several influential roles; overseeing many projects throughout the years,” she said. “From someone who has been thought of as a good friend, involved only in a consensual relationship, these claims are not only mystifying to Mr Weinstein, but deeply upsetting, and they are not supported by the facts.”
Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 70 women, denies all allegations of non-consensual sex made against him. He is currently under investigation by police in London, New York and Los Angeles, and is the subject of multiple civil lawsuits, most recently one filed by the actor Ashley Judd, who claims that the producer damaged her career after she rejected his sexual advances.
As well as Weinstein, Canosa’s lawsuit accuses the Weinstein Company of knowing about and failing to prevent Weinstein’s behaviour and using non-disclosure agreements to keep allegations against him out of the public eye.
The Guardian has contacted a representative of the Weinstein Company for comment on the lawsuit against them. It has previously denied liability for any wrongdoing on Weinstein’s part.
On Tuesday the winning bidder for the Weinstein Company was announced as the Dallas-based firm Lantern Capital. Lantern are believed to have offered around $310m (£227m) for the distressed assets of the company, along with the assumption of liabilities totalling $115m.
“Lantern’s bid clearly achieves the highest and best value for the estate and its creditors,” the Weinstein Company board member Ivona Smith said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Lantern to close the transaction and consummate the going concern sale.”
A rival bid from the Broadway producer Howard Kagan was rejected by the Weinstein Company. Speaking to Variety, Kagan said that he had been shut out of the bidding process after the company “refused to engage” with him.
