Former Obama Admin Official Offers To Buy Weinstein Co. For $275 Million

One former Obama administration official is trying to engineer a feminist takeover of Weinstein Co., the embattled “mini-major” Hollywood studio that has been spiraling toward bankruptcy since one of its founders, Harvey Weinstein, was exposed for a decades long history of sexual harassment and assault.

According to Reuters, Maria Contreras-Sweet, the former head of the Small Business Administration between 2014 and 2017, has offered to acquire Weinstein Co., a spokeswoman for the U.S. film and TV studio said on Sunday.

A consortium of investors assembled by Contreras-Sweet has put together an offer of $275 million to buy the embattled studio, which has seen revenues plunge since the name Weinstein became synonymous with Hollywood’s coercive, predatory culture. Presently, both the LAPD and NYPD have suggested that they’re nearly ready to indict Weinstein for a host of sex crimes, including at least two rapes.

Weinstein Co. has had difficulty securing short-term financing, which is one reason why its owners would probably be amenable to such a generous bid. Talks to secure a $35 million lifeline from Fortress Co. last month fell apart. And though the studio did secure a cash injection from Thomas Barrick Jr.’s Colony Capital, the firm ultimately backed away from a deal to purchase most of Weinstein Co.’s major assets.

Maria Contreras-Sweet

Contreras-Sweet’s bid comes after the movie studio secured a $20 million cash infusion from the sale of the children’s movie “Paddington 2” last week to Warner Brothers Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc. The Weinstein Co.’s co-chairman Harvey Weinstein stepped down last month following sexual assault allegations.

So far, at least 84 women have accused Weinstein of harassment, groping and assault, all of which took place over the last three decades. Worse still, a story published earlier in this month by the New Yorker delved into Weinstein’s practice of hiring private security contractors to intimidate his victims into remaining silent.

In a brilliant twist that would help ameliorate much of the stigma surrounding the studio and its legacy, Contreras-Sweet’s plan calls for installing a majority-female board at The Weinstein Co. Her offer includes an approximately $30 million fund for the alleged victims of Harvey Weinstein, the source added. The fund would be set up through a mediation process, according to the source.

The spokeswoman for the Weinstein Co. didn’t comment on the details of the offer it received. A spokesman for Contreras-Sweet declined to comment.

US President Barack Obama in 2014 selected Contreras-Sweet as the head of the SBA, which makes loans to small businesses and helps them get government contracts. She had previously founded ProAmerica Bank, a Latino-owned community bank in Los Angeles, which focuses on lending to small- and medium-sized Latino businesses.  The SBA is now run by Trump appointee Linda McMahon.

Contreras-Sweet’s offer is more than generous, especially considering that Goldman Sachs, which owned a small equity stake in the studio, recently marked its holdings down to zero, reflecting the view that the studio and its assets have become toxic in the wake of the Weinstein scandal.

The proceeds from the “Paddington 2” sale will enable the Weinstein Co to continue to operate until January, the source said. Investment firm Fortress Investment Group LLC was considering lending to the film and TV studio, but those talks ended without a deal earlier this month.

More than 20 other potential bidders are analyzing The Weinstein Co’s financial data, the source said. The studio has $375 million in debt, including a $45 million loan from AI International Holdings Limited, an affiliate of billionaire Len Blavatnik’s industrial group Access Industries, the person said. Much of the debt is backed by the company’s film and TV assets.

Weinstein Facing 6th Sex-Crime Investigation As Former Studio Hurtles Toward Bankruptcy

This must be some kind of record.

The number of publicly disclosed sex-crime investigations targeting disgraced Hollywood studio head Harvey Weinstein has risen to six following media reports that the Beverly Hills Police Department has opened an investigation of its own, while the New York Police Department has opened a second investigation.

Investigations involving the LAPD, Scotland Yard, and FBI were reported last month. In addition to investigating harassment allegations against Weinstein, the Beverly Hills Police Department is also investigating similar allegations involving director James Toback. The department said in a press release Tuesday night that they have received multiple complaints about both the movie mogul Weinstein and the director Toback and are investigating the alleged improprieties. According to a running tally maintained by the LA Times. Toback has been accused of harassment and abuse by more 200 women. Meanwhile, more than 80 women who have accused Weinstein of harassment, groping or rape dating back to the 1970s.

Actresses Asia Argento, Rose McGowan, Lucia Evans and Lysette Anthony have all publicly stated that they were raped or forced to perform a sex act by Weinstein. In Los Angeles, police are investigating an Italian model-actress’ accusations of being forced by Weinstein to have sex with him in her hotel room in 2013.

British police are investigating 11 allegations of sexual assaults against Weinstein that span several decades, sources said Tuesday.

Authorities said the alleged attacks involved seven women and that nine were reported to have occurred on British soil. Three women have stepped forward within the last week, British police said, including one who claimed she was attacked in the early 1990s.

ABC News was first to report that the NYPD has two active cases involving Weinstein.

The alleged victims are Lucia Evans, the actress who previously told the New Yorker Weinstein exposed himself and physically forced her to perform oral sex on him, and another woman who wasn’t named. Importantly, neither case is subject to New York’s statute of limitations.

However, the NYPD reportedly isn’t investigating allegations made by Annabella Sciorra, the actress who went public to the New Yorker saying Weinstein raped her in her apartment in the 1990s.

As part of the ongoing investigation, NYPD detectives traveled in the last two weeks to Montreal to interview a witness, the department said. Detectives have also considered, but have not yet traveled elsewhere, including to Los Angeles. The department"s travels and assistance to departments in other jurisdictions must be connected to the New York City cases.

ABC reports the NYPD and Manhattan DA’s office have received multiple calls to their sex crimes hotlines concerning the disgraced producer. The vast majority of accusations have involved alleged groping or forcible sexual conduct, which are subject to strict statute of limitations and cannot be prosecuted today.

Meanwhile, as Weinstein moves ahead with efforts to sue his former company for terminating him, the New York Post is reporting The Weinstein Company’s talks to obtain a $35 million lifeline from Fortress Investment Group have stalled amid concerns about the flailing Hollywood studio’s finances.

The chances of a deal getting done have recently slid to “roughly 50 percent,” a source told the Post. Bloomberg had reported last week that the financing was imminent.

It was also reported last week that Colony Capital, led by Trump adviser Thomas Barrick Jr., had backed out of plans to purchase the Weinstein Co’s major assets after providing it with a temporary cash infusion.

While the Post cautions that the situation involving Fortress is still fluid, without the money, the company could soon be forced into bankruptcy.
 

New Weinstein Company Film Grosses Just $742 During One-Day Theatrical Release

Weinstein Co"s panicked assurances that the firm is in good financial health aside, evidence of the financial fallout from the Harvey Weinstein scandal is finally beginning to emerge. And as it turns out, being exposed for tacitly condoning the behavior of an alleged sexual predator is really, really rough on the bottom line.

To wit, the Weinstein Co.’s first movie to be released since more than 50 women came forward to accuse former studio head Harvey Weinstein of sex crimes ranging from harassment to groping to assault grossed less than $800 during a one-day theatrical release, according to Variety.

While we don’t have the data handy, that’s got to be some kind of record – even when factoring in that it was a limited release. Making matters worse, the movie featured an all-star cast including Bella Thorne (who played the protagonist) and Jennifer Jason Leigh.  

Here’s Variety:

The Weinstein Company’s “Amityville: The Awakening” grossed a minuscule $742 total at 10 locations on Saturday, two weeks after the haunted house sequel began streaming for free on Google Play.

 

Bella Thorne, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jennifer Morrison, and Cameron Monaghan star in “Amityville: The Awakening,” which was directed by Franck Khalfoun from his own script. It’s produced by TWC’s Dimension and Blumhouse.

 

The original 1979 movie “The Amityville Horror” is based on the 1974 events at a rural house in Amityville, N.Y., which became the site of one of the deadliest hauntings and grisliest murders in American history when Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot all six members of his family. Jay Anson’s book “The Amityville Horror” detailed a family moving into the house in 1975 and leaving a week later due to paranormal activity.

The showing looks particularly paltry considering the 2005 remake of the original Amityville Horror  earned $108 million worldwide. In “Amityville: The Awakening,” Thorne’s teenage character’s family moves into the house unaware of its haunted past.

The Weinstein Co. had planned to release the movie several times since last year before scrubbing the release date. It announced on Sept. 21 — two weeks before the massive Harvey Weinstein scandal broke — that “Amityville: The Awakening” would be available for free exclusively on Google Play from Oct. 12 to Nov. 8 and have a limited one-day theatrical release on Oct. 28, Variety reported.

Here’s a suspenseful clip from the film featuring Thorne’s character:

Harvey Weinstein is presently the subject of no fewer than four criminal probes being conducted by the FBI, NYPD, LAPD and Scotland Yard. He recently completed a two-week stint in a $2,000-a-night Arizona rehab facility.

The firm was reportedly in talks to sell most of its major assets to Colony Capital, which is run by Trump friend and adviser Thomas Barrick Jr. Colony supplied an emergency cash infusion to the firm shortly after the New York Times published its original story exposing Weinstein’s history of harassing and assasulting women and covering his tracks with settlements and NDAs.