Tag: harvey weinstein

Huawei Hires Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Dark Arts’ Spin Doctor To Beat Off Trump Ban

Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies has hired the former public relations firm of sex predators Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein as it fights against Trump administration efforts to ban the use of its computer chips over espionage and national security concerns.

Sitrick Group, owned by veteran publicist Michael S. Sitrick, registered this month as a foreign agent of Huawei and its American subsidiary FutureWei, according to documents filed with the Department of Justice. Sitrick, who calls himself one of the “most accomplished practitioners of the dark arts of public relations,” will provide “strategic counsel, media relations, analyst relations, data insights, content strategy, and public communications” for Huawei at a rate of $75,000 per month, according to a contract disclosed to the Department of Justice.

It could signal that Huawei—and its overseers in the Chinese Communist Party—are taking a new approach to fighting U.S. government sanctions against the company. American officials have warned for years that the CCP uses Huawei to conduct espionage and surveil critics of China’s government. The Trump administration issued a warning to tech companies last week that using Huawei chips would “violate U.S. export controls” issued against the Chinese firm. The Chinese government shot back that it will take “resolute measures” against the United States for blacklisting its chips.

Sitrick, whose memoir is entitled The Fixer, has represented thousands of clients, including companies like PepsiCo and McDonald’s and actresses Halle Berry and Kim Basinger. He’s also represented some controversial names in his nearly 40 years in the PR business.

Weinstein hired Sitrick’s firm in 2017 after the Hollywood mogul had been accused of sexual offenses. Dozens of women later accused Weinstein of sexual assault. Sitrick executive Sallie Hofmeister, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times, served as Weinstein’s primary publicist and issued statements on behalf of Weinstein that “any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied.” Weinstein is serving life in prison following several rape convictions. Sitrick Group resigned from representing Weinstein in April 2018. Hofmeister is listed as a Sitrick Group representative on the Huawei account, according to documents filed with the Department of Justice.

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New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial

New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with “egregious” improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.

The state Court of Appeals ruling reopens a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures — an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein. The court ordered a new trial. His accusers could again be forced to relive their traumas on the witness stand.

Weinstein, 72, has been serving a 23-year sentence in a New York prison following his conviction on charges of criminal sex act for forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013.

He will remain imprisoned because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Weinstein was acquitted in Los Angeles on charges involving one of the women who testified in New York.

Weinstein’s lawyers argued Judge James Burke’s rulings in favor of the prosecution turned the trial into “1-800-GET-HARVEY.”

The reversal of Weinstein’s conviction is the second major #MeToo setback in the last two years, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a Pennsylvania court decision to throw out Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction.

Weinstein’s conviction stood for more than four years, heralded by activists and advocates as a milestone achievement, but dissected just as quickly by his lawyers and, later, the Court of Appeals when it heard arguments on the matter in February.

Allegations against Weinstein, the once powerful and feared studio boss behind such Oscar winners as “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” ushered in the #MeToo movement. Dozens of women came forward to accuse Weinstein, including famous actresses such as Ashley Judd and Uma Thurman. His New York trial drew intense publicity, with protesters chanting “rapist” outside the courthouse.

Weinstein is incarcerated in New York at the Mohawk Correctional Facility, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Albany.

He maintains his innocence. He contends any sexual activity was consensual.

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Gavin Newsom’s wife emailed Harvey Weinstein asking for help dealing with California Gov’s cheating scandal two years AFTER movie magnate ‘raped and sexually assaulted her’, court hears

Gavin Newsom’s wife Jennifer wrote to Harvey Weinstein asking for his help in dealing with a sex scandal involving her husband, two years after she says the movie mogul raped her. 

The email will be presented to the jury at Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial as apparent proof that their encounter was consensual. It was first raised last night in a filing from Weinstein’s legal team. 

Jennifer Siebel Newsom says Weinstein raped her in 2005 after ‘luring’ her to a hotel room. At the time, she was an actress and had not yet started dating Newsom. In 2007, a year after she met Newsom and started dating him, he became embroiled in an embarrassing sex scandal. 

He was Mayor of San Francisco and had had an affair with Ruby Rippey Tourk, the wife of one of his senior advisers. 

Jennifer, then his girlfriend, contacted Harvey to ask for how she should handle it, according to a filing submitted by Harvey’s lawyers last night. They say it proves that the prior encounter between them was consensual. 

‘Of all things you’d think a woman that is raped by Harvey Weinstein wouldn´t do, it’s ask him how to deal with a sex scandal,’ attorney Mark Werksman said.  

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