Harvey Weinstein SPY says he’s not sorry for secretly trailing 91 Hollywood figures when he worked for Mossad-linked agency as he reveals audio from interview with Rose McGowan where she told of rape but he denies silencing victims
- Seth Freedman worked for the private intelligence agency hired by Weinstein
- Former Guardian journalist said he was working on an article to speak with Rose
- Freedman no longer works for Mossad-linked Israeli intelligence company Black Cube but says he will not say he is sorry or guilty over his previous work
- He said he ‘obviously’ gave a recording of his chat with McGowan to Weinstein
- She was one of the first women to make public allegations about the producer
- ‘I don’t feel guilty about anything I did for Black Cube’, Freedman told the BBC
- McGowan filed a lawsuit in October last year against Weinstein, his ex-attorneys and Black Cube, alleging they conspired to discredit her
- Jury selection in the shamed producer’s trial entered its second week Monday
Seth Freedman worked for private intelligence agency Black Cube but has denied silencing alleged victims in an interview with the BBC – despite reporting back to the producer on his 75 minute chat with the actress.
The former Guardian journalist used the cover story of being a reporter working on an article about Hollywood to convince McGowan’s literary agent to encourage the star to speak to him.
McGowan was one of the first women to make public allegations about Weinstein’s abuse, triggering his downfall in 2017 and the emergence of the #MeToo movement that brought down many other public figures.
Freedman, who was unmasked by journalist Ronan Farrow, said: ‘I don’t feel guilty about anything I did for Black Cube. I mean, as far as I’m concerned if you’re an actress who works in Hollywood and a reporter calls you and you decide to talk to them, that’s pretty run of the mill.
‘I think the problem with how toxic this debate is over the Weinstein case is that if you say anything that sounds like you’re dissenting from the #MeToo narrative, therefore you’re on his side and you support him. I don’t know the guy, I couldn’t really care less one way or the other what happens to him.’
Seth Freedman, pictured, has defended secretly trailing 91 Hollywood figures, including accuser Rose McGowan, after being hired to investigate those readying to make allegations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein
McGowan was one of the first women to make public allegations about Weinstein’s abuse, triggering his downfall in 2017 and the emergence of the #MeToo movement that brought down many other public figures. She is pictured with Weinstein in 2007
Jury selection in Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault trial entered its second week Monday with potential jurors being pre-screened for possible bias.
Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting two women, and faces life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault.
He had tasked Black Cube with two primary objectives in July 2017; to ‘provide intelligence which will help the Client’s efforts to completely stop the publication of a new, negative article in a leading NY newspaper’, and to ‘obtain additional content of a book which is currently being written and which includes harmful negative information on and about the Client’.
To achieve this, Black Cube promised a dedicated team, including Freedman, after ex-Israeli premier Ehud Barak put Weinstein’s lawyers in touch with the firm.
The former head of Miramax went on to spend more than £1million with Black Cube to protect his reputation.
Freedman no longer works for Mossad-linked Israeli intelligence company Black Cube but says he will not say he is sorry or guilty over his previous work ‘because he is not’.
He added: ‘My job is to get a piece of information that isn’t freely available and as long as I stay within the letter of the law I’m not worried about your ethics when you judge me.’
In a recording of the call, actress McGowan can be heard telling Freedman how her book will address an assault from someone in the industry.
She tells him about ‘a document’ she signed ‘for a very small settlement’. When asked what would make her ‘call it quits’ McGowan replies: ‘Nothing.’
Freedman says: ‘The list of people that Harvey wanted us to go after grew bigger. It culminated in 91 names. You know, actors and actresses who’d worked for him in the past and who didn’t seem like they would be involved in a current plot against him but again you’re just doing your job.
‘I’m not asking “are they relevant?” I’m just told that’s who you are going after today. The list was updated by Harvey and it had Rose McGowan’s name on, the actress.’
‘Literally we were talking about her entire career. At no point do I mention Weinstein because that’s not what I’m there to do. I don’t even know what the allegations are necessarily at this point. And she brought it up.’
Harvey Weinstein arrives at court for his ongoing sexual assault trial in Manhattan Monday
Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting two women, and faces life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault
Freedman says he spoke with Rose about Weinstein for a total of two minutes ‘max’ in a 75-minute call.
‘Obviously I give that recording to Black Cube, it’s shared with Harvey Weinstein and his legal team and they can see, ok that might be what’s she planning to do with her book’, he adds.
Freedman says he is ‘totally neutral about the whole thing’, telling the BBC: ‘Now again, I don’t care if people want to sit here and sermonize and say ‘o that’s so awful, she was a survivor’, so on and so forth. None of this is attested in court as far as I am concerned.
‘This is not a case of Harvey Weinstein calls Black Cube and says “such and such number of people are accusing me of sexual assault, can you help me”. That just didn’t happen.’
Actress Rose McGowan, who accused Weinstein of raping her and destroying her career, joins other accusers and protesters outside of court on the first day of his trial
McGowan filed a lawsuit in October last year against Weinstein, his ex-attorneys and Black Cube, alleging they conspired to discredit her when she accused the disgraced movie mogul of rape.
She alleges that when Weinstein learned in 2016 that she planned to write about the alleged rape said to have taken place in 1997, he unleashed a team of fixers to ensure her story ‘never saw the light of day, and, if it did, that no one would believe her.’
Freedman denies any ‘intimidation, silencing and harassing’, adding: ‘All those things would be illegal and none of those things happened.’