A producer on the Netflix series Marco Polo has filed a devastating suit against Harvey Weinstein, claiming that he raped her, threatened her, and sexually abused her numerous times over the course of five years. Alexandra Canosa, who worked with Weinstein for years, filed the suit in the New York Supreme Court, according to Variety, and claims that Weinstein threatened to ruin her career as recently as September 2017 if she came forward with allegations against him. She also claims that members of the Weinstein Company—which recently declared bankruptcy and found a lucrative bidder—essentially enabled his behavior.
“Harvey Weinstein created an environment in which there was no choice but to do his bidding or suffer dire consequences both physically and to plaintiff’s career,” Canosa’s attorneys wrote, per Variety.
The details of Canosa’s allegations are as disturbing as any of the claims women have made about Weinstein. She claims that Weinstein propositioned her, threatened her, and sexually assaulted her from 2010 to 2015 in New York, Los Angeles, Budapest, and Malaysia. She also claims that he raped her in Malaysia in 2014.
“Weinstein made it clear that Plaintiff was expected to give in to sexual advances and demands, expected to keep silent, and even expected to pretend to like it, in order to maintain her position and status in the workplace and the industry,” the suit reads.
Phyllis Kupferstein, Weinstein’s attorney, denied the allegations in a statement, saying that Weinstein and Canosa’s relationship was consensual:
“Ali Canosa was a friend who had worked for the Weinstein Company for 10 years, traveled the world for the company, and held several influential roles; overseeing many projects throughout the years,” she said. “From someone who has been thought of as a good friend, involved only in a consensual relationship, these claims are not only mystifying to Mr. Weinstein, but deeply upsetting, and they are not supported by the facts.”
Canosa’s is just one of several lawsuits that have been filed against Weinstein since October 2017. On Monday, actress Ashley Judd added another to his pile, filing a defamation and sexual harassment suit against him in the Los Angeles Superior Court in Santa Monica. Judd claims that Weinstein damaged her career after she rejected his sexual advances; she has noted that any money she wins from the case will be donated to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, an organization that sprang up after the #MeToo movement went mainstream. A representative for Weinstein said he “neither defamed Ms. Judd nor ever interfered with Ms. Judd’s career.” Rather, he “championed” her career and lobbied for her to be cast in two of his films. The statement did not address Judd’s sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein.
Weinstein is also facing a class-action lawsuit filed by six women accusing him of sexual misconduct. In the last few months, the disgraced producer has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women, though he has issued a blanket denial of all claims of nonconsensual acts. He is also being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department, the New York Police Department, and Scotland Yard.
