Harvey
Weinstein Assistant WhatsApp
Messages Emerge In SDNY Sex
Trafficking Case
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Periscope,
WhatApps
FEDERAL
COURTHOUSE, February 20 – A
motion by Harvey Weinstein's
lawyers to immediately appeal
an order allowing a case
against him for violating the
Federal sex trafficking
statute to go forward was
argued on February 20 in the
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York.
From the questions posed by
SDNY Judge Robert W. Sweet it
appears this intermediate or
interlocutory appeal will not
be allowed. (Sweet reserved
decision, being in the middle
of a trial with the jury
coming back from lunch in the
snowy streets of Chinatown an
hour after the Weinstein
argument).
The
plaintiff Kadian Noble has
complained she was lured with
the promise of career
advancement -- something of
value, as it was described in
the hearing - into a hotel in
Cannes, France in February
2014 and then assaulted.
Weinstein's lawyer called the
decision to apply sex
trafficking law to this a case
of first impression and wants
to appeal to the Second
Circuit Court of Appeals
across Pearl Street at 40
Foley Square. The case is Kadian
Noble v. Weinstein, et al.,
Case No. 17-CV-09260 (RWS).
Ms. Noble's
lawyer Jeffrey Herman said
Judge Sweet has only allowed
such interlocutory appeals in
the TWA cases, to avoid the
Federal judicial system being
burdened with 200 separate
appeals. Weinstein's lawyer
replied that there are other
cases against Weinstein,
including one in California by
Herman's firm.
Afterward by the elevators
Inner City Press asked Herman
about the case. He said
Dominique Huett is the
plaintiff; he told Inner City
Press that like Ms. Noble, Ms.
Huett has been emboldened to
come forward by the #MeToo
movement -- and, he said,
social media like YouTube
which allows victims to
immediately respond to an
alleged perpetrator's denials.
And now
there are these WhatApp
messages, May 13 and then May
31 ("I confronted Harvey"),
with Weinstein's executive
assistant Vanessa Ford, Inner
City Press has put them on
Scribd here.
We'll have more on this.
The age of the
casting couch is over, Herman
said. There was some
skepticism. But at least as to
U.S. perpetrators there is a
judicial system. And Inner
City Press has found,
international bodies in the
United Nations and there
officials face no judicial
accountability. Whether this
will remain the case, and how
Judge Sweet will rule, remain
to be seen. Watch this site -
for these cases as well: The
sister of the ruler of Qatar
is being sued by at least
three employees who say they
were made to work six days a
week without being paid
overtime, and were retaliated
against. Inner City Press was
the only media present at the
initial pre trial conference
on the case in the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
on February 14, and was
tempted to object when the
Qatari royal's lawyer from the
Proskauer law firm urged SDNY
Judge J. Paul Oetken for a
confidentiality order.
Now Inner
City Press can reported that
the Qatari royals' Proskauer
lawyer told Judge Oetken that
they received a demand for $5
million from "a gentleman" --
"Doesn't
sound like a gentleman," Judge
Oetken remarked. The Proskauer
counsel said that his partner
the (former) U.S. Attorney for
the District of New Jersey Bob
Cleary got involved, and the
gentleman backed off. The goal
of saying this seemed to be to
convince Judge Oetken that the
plaintiffs are connected to
extortion and / or that he
should agree to an extensive
confidentiality order.
Royals of a
gas-rich emirate that has
locked up poets for
criticizing them, seeking to
cover up their retaliation and
refusal to pay overtime? It
remains to be seen how much
will be covered up in the
case. The defendants are
Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad
Al-Thani and Sheikh Jassim bin
Abdulaziz Al- Thani.
For now we can
report: the Proskauer firm on
February 14 not only opposed
any certification of the claim
to include other wronged
employees of the family, it
also proposed to sever the
three plaintiff from each
other. The plaintiffs' lawyer
argued that many of the Qatari
royals' employee are afraid to
join the lawsuit, absent a
noitce or invitation from the
court promising them
protection from retaliation,
because they are in the United
States on special visas which
only allow them to work for
this family, and they could
have to leave the country as
two of the plaintiffs have.
From the answer
to the Complaint: "Defendants
admit that Mr. Bancroft began
his employment in Doha, Qatar
and that he accompanied
Defendants when they moved to
New York, but otherwise deny
the allegations in
Paragraph 39 of the
Complaint. 40.
Defendants deny the
allegations in Paragraph 40 of
the Complaint. 41.
Defendants admit that Mr.
Bancroft accompanied
Defendants on their European
travels in various countries
during the summer of 2016, but
upon information and
belief, otherwise deny
the allegations in Paragraph
41 of the
Complaint.
42. Defendants admit that Mr.
Bancroft accompanied
Defendants on their trip to
Qatar in the summer of 2017,
but otherwise deny the
allegations in Paragraph 42 of
the Complaint. 43.
Defendants admit that Mr.
Bancroft accompanied
Defendants on their European
travels in various countries
during the summer of 2018, but
upon information and
belief, otherwise deny
the allegations in Paragraph
43 of the
Complaint.
44. Defendants admit that Mr.
Bancroft traveled with the
family to Miami and Boston."
This is the
life of corrupt royals and
diplomats, such like those at
the UN up to and including its
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres who lives alone in a
$15 million mansion on
Manhattan's Sutton Place. This
is the world of immunity and
impunity and now, it is urged,
confidentiality. Inner City
Press, now covering the SDNY
daily, will have more on this.
Upcoming in the
SDNY is a recently-filed
complaint by the Bangladesh
Central Bank for the $81
million hacking of its funds,
which were then wired through
the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York, a case
that Inner City Press will
cover. Times change. Watch
this site.
***
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