Weinstein studio to file for bankruptcy as investors stop funding

The global #MeToo movement that Harvey Weinstein unwittingly kicked off is now claiming the company he founded, the Weinstein Co.

The Los Angeles-based film studio will file for bankruptcy after failing to secure funding from investors, according to a copy of a letter provided by the company on Sunday. The demise of the 13-year-old studio follows accusations by dozens of actresses of decades of sexual misconduct at the hands of Weinstein, setting off a movement that saw a string of similar revelations of bad behaviour by prominent men.

Weinstein Co blamed a group of investors led by Maria Contreras-Sweet, who ran the Small Business Administration from 2014 to 2017, for the collapse of a $500 million bid backed by billionaire Ron Burkle.

“While we deeply regret that your actions have led to this unfortunate outcome for our employees, our creditors and any victims, we will now pursue the board’s only viable option to maximise the company’s remaining value: an orderly bankruptcy process,” Weinstein Co said in the emailed letter addressed to Contreras-Sweet and Burkle.

According to the letter, negotiations continued this month after the New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the offer to buy the studio was unacceptable. 

The deal lacked “adequate redress, including a lack of a sufficient victims’ compensation fund” and it would keep victims “muzzled by insidious non-disclosure agreements,” Schneiderman said on Feb 12.