Harvey Weinstein assistant '˜defrauded' by non-disclosure deal

A former assistant to Harvey Weinstein has said she was 'defrauded' by the non-disclosure agreement she signed when she left his company Miramax after alleging '¨he attempted to rape a colleague.

Zelda Perkin sprior to testifying before British lawmakers investigating workplace sexual harassment in London. Picture: Alastair Grant

Giving evidence to the Commons women and equalities committee, Zelda Perkins, who left the company in 1998, told MPs she listed obligations in the agreement that she believed would restrict Weinstein’s allegedly predatory behaviour.

She told the committee: “I was unhappy with the entire process and the entire agreement and the only part of the agreement, the only thing I could do, the only arsenal I had, was trying to make the agreement restrictive to his behaviour, as restrictive as it was to our non-disclosure.”

Asked why she signed it if she was unhappy, she added: “I believed we had done the best we could in terms of stopping his behaviour. Essentially we were defrauded. We signed that agreement with the belief that Miramax and Harvey Weinstein would uphold their obligations.”

Disgraced Hollywood boss Harvey Weinstein. Picture: Michael Sohn

Ms Perkins said she had asked that Weinstein go to therapy and for “a human resources system to be brought into the company with three complaint handlers, one of whom had to be an attorney because I hoped that meant they couldn’t lie”.

She said: “If a damages claim was sought in the following two years this would either be disclosed to Disney or they would fire Harvey from the company.”

She said they had the right to check if this was being enforced for the following three years but Ms Perkins said she did not.

She told MPs: “I did for about 12 months afterwards but the whole process was so demoralising. I would have thought they would have bent over backwards to have upheld their obligations.”

Disgraced Hollywood boss Harvey Weinstein. Picture: Michael Sohn

In the first oral evidence session on sexual harassment in the workplace and the use of non-disclosure agreements, Perkins she was advised by lawyers that the women would be “utterly crushed” if they attempted to take legal action against Weinstein, adding they were advised it “wasn’t worth considering because of the disparity of power between myself and Weinstein and Disney [the parent company of Miramax].”

Detailing the three days of intense negotiations with Weinstein’s lawyers Allen & Overy, she said the NDA was a “morally lacking agreement on every level”.

She told MPs: “We were still under pressure to not name anybody.”