Before The New York Times and The New Yorker broke stories about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct, which spanned over three decades, the Hollywood mogul knew they were working on the reports. At first, he used a strategy that had worked in the past — he hired attorneys to defend him, and assembled a legal dream team including renowned litigator David Boies, celebrity lawyer Lisa Bloom, and Charles Harder, who had filed the lawsuit that put Gawker out of business, according to Vanity Fair. He also used former intelligence operatives and a private-security firm to find out who his potential accusers were and which journalists were reporting the story. But Vanity Fair writes that as his time and his options were running out, he began to scramble and “take matters into his own hands.” Weinstein and a few loyal colleagues, allegedly spent his last days at The Weinstein Company — which Harvey started with his brother Bob about 12 years ago — searching for and deleting comments, absconding with others, surveilling ex-employee’s online communications, and looking for who had orchestrated his downfall. One colleague said that in those frantic final days, Weinstein’s appearance was deteriorating and he “looked awful and could not focus.” One source told Vanity Fair that Weinstein burned through so much money on attorneys and advisers that he reportedly requested suspension of child-support payments to two daughters from his marriage to Eve Chilton. Some say he was obsessed with seeking revenge. Sources told Vanity Fair that Weinstein was used to always having control over actors, filmmakers, his company, his family, basically everyone, and this was the first time he couldn’t control a situation. But he still tried.
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