Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein wants to pursue arbitration over what he feels is wrongful termination by The Weinstein Company, according to the Associated Press. As such, Weinstein and his legal team are asking a Delaware bankruptcy judge “to lift the automatic stay that halts outside legal proceedings involving Chapter 11 debtors.”
Julia Klein, an attorney for Weinstein, says that “newly discovered information and facts, gleaned during the course of investigation and discovery in collateral matters, have yielded evidence that corroborates the wrongful termination claim that is subject of the arbitration.”
She added that her client has endured “one of the most publicized criminal proceedings in recent history” while “suffer[ing] from increasing ill health and medical issues.”
The Weinstein Company fired its co-founder Harvey Weinstein on October 8, 2017, three days after Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s published an article in New York Times detailing decades of Weinstein’s behavior.
According to the new court filing, Weinstein entered an agreement with The Weinstein Company in 2105, that included “a provision requiring binding arbitration in New York for any dispute between the parties, including claims for discrimination and for violation of any federal, state or local law.”
The future of The Weinstein Company’s bankruptcy case is unclear, as a New York federal judge rejected a $19 million settlement with some, but not all, accusers. A hearing in the case is scheduled for September 2.
Meanwhile, Weinstein remains at the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, serving a 23-year prison sentence. He has an extradition hearing set for December 11, after which point he may be sent to a Los Angeles court to face additional sexual assault charges.
In April there were reports that the disgraced media mogul contracted the coronavirus.
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