ACTRESS Julia Ormond has appealed for whistleblowers to come forward as she takes on some of Hollywood’s biggest players for allegedly failing to protect her from sex predator Harvey Weinstein.
The English-born Emmy-winner, 58, filed a lawsuit last month against Weinstein, his former Miramax company, talent agency CAA and the Walt Disney Company.
GettyActress Julia Ormond has urged whistleblowers to come forward as she slammed Hollywood leaders for allegedly not protecting her from disgraced executive Harvey Weinstein[/caption]
AFPShe’s embroiled in a lawsuit with Weinstein, a former producer and now-convicted sex offender who was accused by multiple actresses of taking advantage of them[/caption]
GettyOrmond’s lawsuit alleges that she was pushed into a 1995 meeting with Weinstein that ended in sexual assault by her former agent Bryan Lourd (pictured)[/caption]
GettyThe lawsuit also implicates Miramax, the Disney-owned company that Weinstein was working for at the time[/caption]
She claims she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein in December 1995 while he was signed to Miramax, which was owned by Disney.
Ormond claims her high-powered agents at CAA, Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane, pushed her into meeting with Weinstein knowing full well that he was a predator and then discouraged her from going to the authorities after he attacked her.
She says that a short time later the agency dropped her and her career suffered dramatically as a result.
The lawsuit was filed in New York during a one-year window for adult victims of historic sex crimes to come forward on cases on which the statute of limitations had expired.
That window closed today (Friday, November 24).
Ormond’s lawyer Effie Blassberger exclusively told The U.S. Sun: “A very important part of this lawsuit is to hold CAA accountable.
“We believe that the sexual assault have never happened if they had fulfilled their obligations as her fiduciaries and warned her.
“She never would have put herself in this environment where she was meeting with him one-on-one for a business dinner.
“Instead they were more concerned about their relationship with this powerful man who was making them money.
“Afterwards, when she told them what had happened, they intimidated her into being silent and you see the ramifications of that in terms of her career.
“Harvey Weinstein is doing his time but you have these enablers who played a critical role.
“We want to encourage other people to come forward. I don’t think that Julia’s experience with CAA and other enablers was unique.
“Whether it was Harvey Weinstein or other powerful men in Hollywood, so we want people from that time period of the mid-1990s who had these experiences to reach out to us, come forward and tell these stories.
“These are still two of the most powerful agents in Hollywood. Let’s get justice and hold them accountable.”
Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
