David Glasser, the former executive of the Weinstein Company fired last week, is planning to file an $85m wrongful termination suit against the company claiming that he “was scapegoated by the TWC board of directors”.
Glasser, known within the company as the “third Weinstein”, is expected to claim that his termination was “nothing more than a desperate attempt to deflect attention away from the very people who were empowered to halt Harvey Weinstein’s abusive behavior – chairman Bob Weinstein and the two other members of the TWC board of directors,” according to a statement from his law firm, Sauer & Wagner.
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers maintain that his conduct was not criminal and many of the allegations are “without merit”.
Glasser was set to lead the Weinstein Company after a $500m sale to a group of investors. But last week, the New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman filed a civil rights lawsuit against the company to halt the sale saying, in part, that Glasser’s role was “unacceptable”.
The Weinstein Company’s board announced on Friday it had fired Glasser “for cause” after Schneiderman accused him of being an active enabler of Weinstein’s harassment who should not be left in charge of the new company.
According to Variety, buyers of the Weinstein Company assets, including investor Ron Burkle and Obama’s small business administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, were scheduled to meet Schneiderman on Wednesday to discuss how to put the deal back on track.
But Glasser’s wrongful termination suit may further complicate that effort.
A spokesman for Glasser claimed that throughout his tenure at the Weinstein Company, he’d “worked tirelessly to protect the employees of the company from Harvey Weinstein’s frequent outbursts.
“Numerous documents and emails clearly show that Mr Glasser acted appropriately and responsibly whenever allegations of misconduct were brought to his attention.”
Glasser further challenged the remaining members of the board to explain his termination.
“The simple truth is that the board had no grounds to justify his firing,” Glasser’s spokesperson claimed. “Through this lawsuit, we intend to bring to light facts and evidence to demonstrate that the board acted precipitously and with malice.”
Accounts of internal operations at the company that Schneiderman claims permitted a culture of abuse to go unchecked suggest Glasser’s role was complex.
The New York indictment charged that there was a pervasive pattern of sexual misconduct and corporate enabling at the Weinstein Company that was the worst the attorney general’s office had seen.
“We have never seen anything as despicable as what we’ve seen right here,” Schneiderman told reporters. “We have to ensure that this all cleaned up and that any deal that removes the two Weinstein brothers, but essentially leaves the rest of the management team intact, should be unacceptable to the purchasers,” Schneiderman said.