Report: Cuomo Froze Weinstein Investigation Less Than a Week After $25k Donation
Money makes the world go round … or at the very least, makes a lot of problems disappear.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was in the midst of an investigation into the prosecutor’s handling of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s case when he suddenly announced his decision to halt the investigation in a letter dated June 26.
Strangely enough, less than a week prior — June 20, to be exact — a law firm that previously represented Weinstein made a $25,000 donation to Cuomo’s reelection campaign.
Coincidence? I think not … because this scenario has actually happened before.
In 2017, multiple women came forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment.
Those accusations were supported by a secret recording of Weinstein admitting to Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez that he had groped multiple women, but that if she came into his hotel room, he “wouldn’t do it again.”
Despite this evidence, Weinstein was never prosecuted — Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. declined to charge the producer with sexual assault.
Weinstein’s long-term lawyer David Boies later donated $10,000 to Vance’s reelection campaign. Boies’ office claimed that the lawyer had donated to Vance before the Weinstein investigation, but the timing of this particular donation was still highly suspect.
Was Boies thanking Vance for not prosecuting Weinstein? It certainly looked that way.
Now, something eerily similar seems to have happened.
In March 2018, Gov. Cuomo ordered a probe into Vance’s handling of the Weinstein case, as a result of the campaign donation from Boies’ firm.
Less than four months later, on June 26, Cuomo sent a letter to the New York attorney general’s office, asking them to suspend the investigation for the next six months.
Cuomo’s office issued a statement about the suspension, saying that they wanted to “avoid any interference with the District Attorney’s ongoing prosecution of Harvey Weinstein.”
“We remain committed to conducting a comprehensive, fair, and independent review,” Cuomo’s office added.
It has now come to light that Cuomo’s reelection campaign received a $25,000 donation from the law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner — the firm formerly responsible for Weinstein’s defense.
Boies’ office was quick to email a statement about the June donation: “Neither Mr. Boies, nor anyone from his firm, ever discussed Harvey Weinstein or Mr. Vance with Mr. Cuomo, or anyone from his office, at any time. Mr. Boies is a longtime supporter of Mr. Cuomo and his contribution in June was consistent with his contributions to Mr. Cuomo over years past.”
Since 2009, Boies and his firm have contributed more than $245,000 to Cuomo’s gubernatorial campaigns, so the statement checks out at a surface glance.
But doesn’t all of this make you wonder if there really is something unusual going on deeper down?
Two investigations involving Harvey Weinstein. Two massive campaign contributions to politicians involved in the judicial process. Two occasions where Weinstein was let off the hook, so to speak.
And two times that his former defense firm made those payments.
If that doesn’t at least smell a little fishy to you, you might want to get your nose checked out.
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