By David Ng
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — Harvey Weinstein resigned from the Directors Guild of America on Monday as the scandal surrounding his alleged acts of sexual misconduct continued to grow with two new lawsuits filed against the disgraced movie producer.
One of the suits accuses Weinstein of engaging in sex trafficking by luring an actress to the Cannes Film Festival in France three years ago on the pretext of business, only to sexually assault her at his room at Le Majestic Hotel.
Weinstein’s resignation from the DGA comes after the guild filed disciplinary charges against him in October after numerous women publicly came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct, including harassment and rape. He likely faced expulsion from the guild, after having already been kicked out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America.
“Harvey Weinstein resigned his membership from the DGA, effective today,” a guild spokeswoman said in a statement Monday. She declined to elaborate.
Weinstein was primarily a producer of movies and TV, but he became a member of the DGA because he co-directed the little-seen 1986 comedy “Playing for Keeps” with his brother, Bob.
On Monday, actress Kadian Noble filed a civil suit in a New York federal court, alleging that Harvey Weinstein engaged in sex trafficking when he enticed her to his hotel room at Cannes in 2014 under the guise of discussing a role in a movie project. During the meeting, the producer pulled the actress close and “groped her breasts,” despite her protests, according to the complaint.
The actress claims that at one point during her meeting, Weinstein put her on the phone with an unidentified producer at the Weinstein Co. who told her to be “a good girl and do whatever he wished.”
Noble alleges that Weinstein then forcibly pulled her into the bathroom where he exposed her breasts, groped her and then forced her to masturbate him until he ejaculated onto the floor.
The suit also names Bob Weinstein and the Weinstein Co. as defendants, alleging that they were “knowing, or in reckless disregard of the fact,” that Harvey would force himself on her sexually.
A separate civil suit was filed in London Monday by an unidentified plaintiff who alleges Harvey Weinstein engaged in a series of sexual assaults, and Weinstein Co. is also liable, on the grounds of negligence and possibly breach of contract. The complaint didn’t say when or where the assaults took place, or elaborate on the nature of the assaults.
Both plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages.
A representative for the Weinstein Co. didn’t respond to requests for comment.
A representative for Harvey Weinstein said in a statement: “Mr. Weinstein denies allegations of nonconsensual sex. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.”
