“Too little money for victims” ‘Outrage’ over Harvey Weinstein sex abuse settlement offer

Lawyers of several women who had accused disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse have harshly criticized a proposed settlement of legal claims against The Weinstein Companies on Thursday. 

According to them the proposed deal calls for $25 million to be set aside for the victims by insurers of the company, which Harvey Weinstein ran with his brother Bob Weinstein, offers far too little money to victims and far too much cash to Weinstein’s attorneys while there is a possibility that it can financially benefit Weinstein as well.

Lawyer Thomas Giuffra represents producer Alexandra Canosa, who claimed that Weinstein had raped and sexually abused her, said, “I think it’s an outrage. It’s a lousy number, it’s way too low.” and went on to add the overall design of the settlement “crazy.”

Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer representing actress Wedil David said, “This is the worst settlement I’ve seen in my entire career. It’s a complete disaster. It leaves very little to the victims.” 

The proposed settlement further states that an additional $12 million will be set aside to pay toward the legal costs of Harvey and Bob Weinstein, as well as such costs for the directors of their company. 

If there is money left over from the victims’ settlement pool, it would go to the company’s business creditors, as well as toward the directors’ and Weinsteins’ legal defense costs. The settlement would leave the brothers better off financially than otherwise.

Both Wigdor and Giuffra said that they will oppose the approval of the proposed settlement but the fact that lawyers for other victims are in favor of the proposed deal could complicate the situation.

The total proposed deal, which would be funded by the Weinstein insurers, is $47 million. The lawyers also revealed that after $25 million for victims, $12 million for legal defense costs for the Weinstein brothers and company directors, the remainder of  $47 million would go toward business creditors of The Weinstein Companies.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Harvey Weinstein’s estimated net worth at the peak of his career was $300 Million while his current net worth is estimated at around $25 Million.