Justice continues to close in on Harvey Weinstein, ever since he surrendered himself to the New York police on May 25 (before being released on bail). Now, one more survivor accusing him of rape is adding her story to the legal battle.
CNN reports that Melissa Thompson joined the three other women who filed a class-action lawsuit against the infamous, disgraced Hollywood producer. Before the new charges, he already stood accused of first and third degree rape, as well as first degree criminal sexual act.
SEE ALSO:Asia Argento: 'I was raped by Harvey Weinstein here at Cannes'Though Thompson's story sounds very similar to the litany of other allegations brought to light by women over the past seven months, it adds a fresh layer of (alleged) insidiousness from Weinstein's lawyer.
Thompson says that back in 2011, she pitched Weinstein on a tech marketing idea. Then, he allegedly raped her in his New York hotel room. Years later, Thompson says she suspects lawyers Ben Brafman -- who currently represents Weinstein -- and Alex Spiro manipulated her into giving them audio and video evidence of Weinstein's behavior.
Back in 2017, when the first wave of accusations against Weinstein were reported by The New York Times and The New Yorker, Thompson says a mutual friend put her in contact with Spiro. She was lead to believe he was part of the team defending Weinstein's victims.
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Only after sharing the evidence with Spiro did she realize that he worked at Brafman's firm, which was representing Weinstein. Both lawyers deny the story as Thompson describes it.
In statements given to CNN, Braufman claimed the firm "never represented Melissa Thompson," and that he "personally never met with her or any of the other women named in the lawsuit." Spiro alleges that he "never met with Mr. Weinstein nor did he have any responsibility whatsoever in connection with our representation of Mr. Weinstein in any matter."
Spiro's statement also notes: "I never have and I never would represent Harvey Weinstein, I left the Brafman firm well before Brafman ever represented Weinstein, and, in fact, I represent one of the key victims, but Ms. Thompson has never been a client."
As for Brafman, he left room to walk back his own claims, saying that ifSpiro ever hadspoken with or met these women, he'd done so on his own time after leaving Brafman's firm for another.
Actress and alleged Weinstein rape survivor Rose McGowan in the 'Non Una Di Meno' (Me Too) march in RomeCredit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty ImagesThe lawsuit not only accuses Harvey Weinstein of criminal activity, but also his enablers: brother Robert Weinstein, The Walt Disney Company, Miramax, and Weinstein Company board members (among others).
Again, the complaints echo what several other survivors have already been saying, which is that the parties listed above participated in a "decades-long campaign to squelch complaints or illegally procure the silence of victims, witnesses and others."
According to The New York Times, Weinstein is scheduled to appear in a Manhattan Criminal Court on July 30. But even if the grand jury indicts him there, it's only the first proceeding in the long road to an actual trial.
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