Shortly after Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. declined to pursue sexual assault charges against Harvey Weinstein in 2015, the producer’s lawyer allegedly donated $10,000 to the DA’s office.
David Boies, Weinstein’s personal layer, dropped $10,000 in August 2015, according to the International Business Times.
Four months earlier, Vance’s office announced that Weinstein would face no charges after being accused of groping a young Italian model.
Ambra Battilana, then 22, claimed in March 2015 that she met Weinstein at the red-carpet premiere of his Radio City “New York Spring Spectacular.” He then invited her back to his Manhattan office to talk business, she said.
At that point, Battilana said, the married father-of-five groped her breasts and reached up her skirt.
“He asked if her breasts were real before touching them,” a police source told the Daily News at the time.
“She asked him to stop, and he put his hand up her skirt. He asked for a kiss; she responded ‘No.'”
The model reported the assault to NYPD that night and met with Assistant District Attorney Martha Bashford, chief of the DA’s Sex Crimes Unit, soon after.
In a call set up by NYPD between Weinstein and Battilana, the producer didn’t deny touching her, a source familiar with the recorded conversation told The News.
In early April, the case was dropped amid credibility issues; Battilana had lied to investigators about a sexual relationship with a 70-year-old man in Italy who paid her with jewelry, expensive tanning cream and a car.
“We are pleased this episode is behind us,” Risa Heller, a spokeswoman for Weinstein, said at the time.
The news of Boies’ reported donation comes the same day as an explosive New York Times article filled with accusations from a host of women, including Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan, that Weinstein made unwanted sexual advances over multiple decades.
The “Gangs of New York” producer admitted that he had acted inappropriately.
“I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it. Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go,” Weinstein said in a statement.
In a statement to The News, Vance’s communications director said that Boies did not represent Weinstein in the Battilana investigation.
“This is false,” Joan Vollero said.
A spokeswoman for Boies told The News that the attorney was a supporter of Vance “long before 2015” and never spoke to the DA about Weinstein.
The news of Boies’ donation to the DA’s office also comes just days after Vance returned a $31,000 contribution from President Trump’s attorney made in 2013 after the DA passed on prosecuting Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. for allegedly duping prospective buyers in a failed Manhattan project called Trump Soho.