The Manhattan DA’s Office doubled down Tuesday on its decision to not prosecute Harvey Weinstein for groping a model in his office in 201 5 — and blamed…
The Manhattan DA’s Office doubled down Tuesday on its decision to not prosecute Harvey Weinstein for groping a model in his office in 201 5 — and blamed the NYPD, in part, for not being able to make a case.
“If we could have prosecuted Harvey Weinstein for the conduct that occurred in 2015, we would have,” Chief Assistant DA Karen Friedman-Agnifilo said in a statement.
Friedman-Agnifilo’s explanation came in response to a bombshell New Yorker exposé published Tuesday that said Weinstein admitted on a secret NYPD recording that he fondled Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez.
On the two-minute recording, Gutierrez, then 22, accuses the disgraced movie mogul of groping her, saying, “Why yesterday you touched my breast?” as he tried to get her into a downtown Manhattan hotel room.
The alleged assault occurred March 27,2015, at his nearby office.
Weinstein answers, “Oh, please. I’m sorry. Just come on in. I’m used to that.”
“You’re used to that?” Gutierrez asks, sounding shocked.
“Yes, come in,” Weinstein replies.
Weinstein is also heard promising that “I won’t do it again” and that “I will never do another thing to you.”
Friedman-Agnifilo said the recorded meeting between Gutierrez and Weinstein, as well as a controlled call between the two the night before, were made “without our knowledge or input.”
“The seasoned prosecutors in our Sex Crimes Unit were not afforded the opportunity before the meeting to counsel investigators on what was necessary to capture in order to prove a misdemeanor sex crime,” she said. “While the recording is horrifying to listen to, what emerged from the audio was insufficient to prove a crime under New York law, which requires prosecutors to establish criminal intent.”
The top prosecutor added, “Subsequent investigative steps undertaken in order to establish intent were not successful. This, coupled with other proof issues, meant that there was no choice but to conclude the investigation without criminal charges.”
A source told the New Yorker that Gutierrez accepted a settlement and signed a confidentiality agreement related to her groping allegations. The payoff included an affidavit stating that Weinstein never did what he admitted on the recording.
“Mr. Weinstein’s pattern of mistreating women, as recounted in recent reports, is disgraceful and shocks the conscience,” said Friedman-Agnifilo, while also urging victims to contact the office’s sex crimes hotline.
