An unnamed Italian actress has accused Harvey Weinstein of rape in 2013, thus sparking off an LAPD investigation into the producer.

The actress claims that Weinstein raped her at a film festival in Los Angeles, making her the sixth woman to accuse him. Already, NYPD has opened two investigations against Weinstein whilst Scotland Yard has an open case on Weinstein for historical sexual assaults committed in England made by three other women.

According to a report by the LA Times, the actress gave a vivid and detailed account of Weinstein forcing himself into her hotel room in the middle of the night, despite repeated pleas for him to stop. The case falls within the ten-year statute of limitations, meaning that Weinstein can be prosecuted in a criminal case if it proceeds further.

Meanwhile, staff at TWC / The Weinstein Company are calling for their non-disclosure agreements to be voided so that they can speak publicly about Harvey Weinstein. An NDA, in case you don't know, is a non-disclosure agreement and they're part of the reason Harvey Weinstein was able to get away with what he did for as long as he did.

Essentially, non-discolsure agreements prevent anyone from speaking to anyone about any particular incident or event and they're pretty standard in the film and television industry. Usually, they're used to ensure actors or technical staff won't reveal any projects they're working or, in some other cases, what happened on said projects.

For example, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi required all actors to sign to binding non-disclosure agreements not to reveal anything about the film. When we talked to Tom Vaughn-Lawlor about Avengers: Infinity War, he wasn't even allowed to name his character. That's how crazy NDAs are.

In a lengthy statement to New Yorker Magazine - which, incidentally, was one of the two outlets who wrote exposes on Weinstein - "select members of The Weinstein Company staff" explained that their NDAs are preventing them from speaking out on Harvey Weinstein, which they feel "only perpetuate this culture of silence."

"We know that in writing this we are in open breach of the non-disclosure agreements in our contracts. But our former boss is in open violation of his contract with us – the employees – to create a safe place for us to work. We have nothing to hide, and are as angry and baffled as you are at how Harvey’s behavior could continue for so long. We ask that the company let us out of our NDAs immediately – and do the same for all former Weinstein Company employees – so we may speak openly, and get to the origins of what happened here, and how."

TWC has issued no statement on either incident so far.

 

Via LA Times / New Yorker