1000 pages of documents were reviewed yesterday
Newly unsealed court documents reveal much about disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Two weeks ago, Weinstein was convicted in court, having been found guilty of committing a criminal sex act in the first degree and rape in the third degree.
Uncovered documents spanning about 1000 pages were reviewed by Variety yesterday at the New York City criminal courthouse.
According to the files, Weinstein said he thought Jennifer Aniston "should be killed."
He also kept a "red flag list" of people he was afraid would talk to journalists about his behaviour. Additionally, he emailed movie industry power players asking for support.
“Jen Aniston should be killed,” Weinstein wrote in an email in 2017 in response to a reporter seeking comment about an untrue allegation that Weinstein had groped Aniston.
Weinstein's "red flag list" included such high profile names as Ben Affleck.
Roughly 70 names are on the list, including Weinstein's accusers Annabella Sciorra, Rose McGowan, Zelda Perkins, Lysette Anthony and Rowena Chiu.
Megan Ellison, Jason Blum, Donna Gigliotti and Jennifer Todd were also on the list; as were Irwin Reiter (former exec at The Weinstein Co.) and Leslye Headland (Weinstein's former assistant and creator of 'Russian Doll').
During the trial, a private investigator testified that he was approached directly by Weinstein to investigate the names on the list, specifically speaking about Sciorra.
The private investigator, named Sam Anson, testified that he did not conduct the investigation. He was unsure if the investigation was carried out by another detective.
The documents also revealed that Weinstein emailed the likes of Michael Bloomberg, Quentin Tarantino, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Apple’s Tim Cook and Eddy Cue.
Writing to the heads of Apple, Cook and Cue, Weinstein said, "I don’t need you to make any public statements — just a private one to my gmail address, saying that you support me getting therapy and the help I need before the board fires me. I’m in a tough spot. Many of the allegations are false, but I need your help with this private letter of support. I’m going to get well, and if I pass the therapist test, then we can talk about reinstatement et cetera.
"But for now, I’m going to take a leave of absence and get healthy. If they fire me now, it’ll destroy me personally and cause a huge legal battle, based on my rights with the company. But if I have support from someone like you getting me going into treatment and having the shot at a second chance (because people deserve a second chance), it would be very helpful. I would need something today if you can — I so appreciate it."
Weinstein will be sentenced today and faces five to 29 years in prison.