Last month, as a new sex crimes trial began for Harvey Weinstein in Los Angeles, defense attorney Mark Werksman insisted that Weinstein was falsely accused by women and was the victim of the #MeToo movement.
During opening arguments, Werksman attacked California first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom as “just another bimbo who slept with Harvey Weinstein to get ahead” while claiming others had either “made up” the assaults or engaged in transactional sex. After Siebel Newsom testified in court that Weinstein raped her, Weinstein’s attorneys claimed that she “indicated (her) pleasure.” He even asked her to re-create a faked orgasm in court.
I admire Siebel Newsom and other brave women who have called out Weinstein’s crimes — especially considering my own initial misgivings about coming forward and my fear of him, when I had far less to lose. I was the accountant for both Miramax and the Weinstein Co. for 28 years, and I became aware of a pattern of accusations against Weinstein in late 2014, a few years before they broke into a public scandal.
