Harvey Weinstein has had a close relationship with restaurant magnate Giuseppe Cipriani for many years—the two apparently dined together every Wednesday night at The Sherry-Netherland Hotel near Central Park before Weinstein's habitual sexual misconduct was revealed last fall. A new report in the Daily Beast today claims that Weinstein used the various Cipriani hotels, bars and restaurants as his "hunting ground" for women.
According to the Daily Beast, Weinstein has been accused of three sexual assaults at Cipriani properties, and is charged with a fourth assault against a woman he met at Cipriani Upstairs in Manhattan. They write:
Across the country, Los Angeles police are also investigating Weinstein’s actions at Cipriani’s Beverly Hills hotel, Mr. C. An Italian actress has accused Weinstein of raping her there in 2013. Weinstein had free rein of the hotel, two sources told The Daily Beast. Weinstein even had free use of a rooftop suite as his “sex pad,” courtesy of Cipriani, two sources said.
Sources told them that Weinstein had free access to a rooftop suite at Mr. C, and that Weinstein even used to give free rooms at Mr. C to other celebrities: "If they stay there he had control of the women." A 38-year-old model-actress had previously told the Los Angeles Times she was raped by Weinstein in her room upstairs at Mr. C. "He grabbed me by the hair and forced me to do something I did not want to do,” she said. "He then dragged me to the bathroom and forcibly raped me."
In 2007, Weinstein met then 28-year-old TV journalist Lauren Sivan when they shared an intimate dinner at Cipriani Downtown, along with Cipriani and Sivan's friend. The group went to another Cipriani property for drinks, Socialista, where Sivan says Weinstein tried to kiss her, then "just whipped out his junk and started masturbating. I wasn’t looking and thank God it was dark." In her interview with Daily Beast, Sivan stressed "how crucial she felt Weinstein’s relationship with Cipriani was in the alleged attack and how the now disgraced producer seemingly had carte blanche at Socialista."
In response to the Daily Beast’s article, Ben Brafman, Mr. Weinstein's attorney said in a statement to Gothamist: "It is offensive that such serious allegations can be publicly made by people who then choose not to identify themselves so that we can prove the falsity of these claims. Simply put, there is no other way to address these 'anonymous' allegations other than to deny each as patently false, which we know these claims to be."
Dozens of women (the NY Times says "over 80") have accused Weinstein of sexually harassing, coercing, and/or assaulting them over the decades as he wielded enormous influence in the entertainment business. He has been charged with rape and criminal sex act stemming from alleged incidents in 2004 and 2013.
