EXCLUSIVE: NYPD Was Ready to Arrest Harvey Weinstein in 2015 After Model Said She Was Groped
Source: The Daily Beast
How detectives laid a trap to catch the movie mogul after an Italian model accused him of groping herand why charges were never brought.
MICHAEL DALY
10.10.17 5:00 AM ET
Harvey Weinstein had no sooner apologized to the 22-year-old woman who had accused him of groping her than he seemed ready to do it again. After he apologized, he said, Listen, come up to my room, an NYPD commander with direct knowledge of the case says.
Ambra Battilana excused herself to use the restroom and she was met by a detective from the special victims unit, which had been using two cellphones to record this March 28, 2015, meeting in the bar/restaurant at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in downtown Manhattan. Battilana seemed close to panic. The detective promised her that she would be safely under protective surveillance if she went along with Weinsteins request.
Battilana agreed and headed upstairs with Weinstein. The detectives were close behind, ready to move in immediately if Weinstein tried to grope her again as she alleged he had earlier. He would have been caught in the act. But Battilana suddenly backed away and departed.
She got scared, the police commander says.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-nypds-sting-on-harvey-weinstein
Aristus
(66,381 posts)DonViejo
(60,536 posts)Skittles
(153,164 posts)mitch96
(13,907 posts)Can and will get away with what ever they can.. Just the price of doing what's illegal..
m
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,355 posts)Reading on shows that it was actually the DA who "got scared."
Since then, the DA had seemed to knowledgeable observers to be leery of another high-profile debacle. That worry could have only increased as prosecutors learned that Battilana had accused a wealthy elderly boyfriend in Italy of forcing her into sex when she was just 17. She had also figured in the prosecution of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, testifying that she had witnessed one of his bunga bunga sex parties when she was 19.
At the prospect of her now figuring as the victim in a case against a high-profile figure such as Harvey Weinstein, the DAs office seemed to hesitate. The DAs office asked the SVU questions and the SVU answered them and the DAs office asked more questions that the SVU also answered.
They knocked it around about a week, back and forth, the NYPD commander says.
The DAs office finally reached an official determination, following what a spokesman rightly described as a thorough investigation.
After analyzing the available evidence, including multiple interviews with both parties, a criminal charge is not supported, the spokeswoman announced.
Me.
(35,454 posts)We've heard that before from Vance's office....it took the French to bring Strauss -Kahn down for prostitution. Vance has a history of not finding credible evidence when influential people are involved.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,355 posts)Cicada
(4,533 posts)If Ann Coulter told the police I met with Barack Obama, alone, and he groped me - would you agree that Mr Vance should file criminal charges against Obama?
If you do not agree Obama should be charged then why do you think Weinstein should have been charged?
He said, she said, by itself, is not grounds for a criminal charge.
Many people think that the prosecution of witches in Salem was a bad idea even though the good people of Salem were darned sure those ladies were witches. I suggest we not return to the standard of prosecution back then. Even if they were witches.
Me.
(35,454 posts)and I believe that is why the Greg Kelly case was dismissed. That, however, was not the case with Strauss-Kahn, who was later found to run a prostitution ring and settled with the maid for 1.5 mil and apparently Weinstein was an open secret, not difficult to get at the truth.
Cicada
(4,533 posts)That Mr Vance did not have evidence sufficient to criminally charge Weinstein. You suggest they charge Weinstein and LATER look to see if there was proof? I suggest that the proof be obtained BEFORE charges are filed. And my comment was limited to the situation in which the only evidence consists of contradicting statements by two people in the room.
As to Straus-Kahn, I do not know the facts and therefore have no opinion on that matter.
Millions were convinced Hillary should have been prosecuted and said the Republican Comey acted wrongly. Millions are convinced Bill Clinton should have been prosecuted for rape. They think prosecutors were corrupt.
I personally think the odds of a corrupt prosecutor corruptly deciding not to prosecute are very very small.
I think we need a lot of evidence before we decide a prosecutor corruptly chooses not to prosecute. If anything I think it almost more likely to think it burns a prosecutor up whenever an innocent man escapes the chair. Think Nancy Grace with her hair trigger for prosecution.
Me.
(35,454 posts)was being investigated by NYPD...the issue became a reluctant witness...but now they have plenty of witnesses.
And given the whole did not pursue the Trumps issue, over-ruling staff, because 'could not make a case' (and then taking a donation, giving it back, then taking another) added to everything else there becomes questions about Vance that won't go away.
Cicada
(4,533 posts)That the police were with her, wired, but that at the last minute she refused to go through with it. So no, on the matter I responded to, no, I do not know that they have tape.
I have heard a tape where he asks a woman to watch him take a shower. Here in California I do not think it is illegal to ask a woman to watch you shower. I doubt that that tape would justify Mr Vance filing criminal charges even if he knew about the tape (which I doubt). But I do think we should require Weinstein to sing the Radiohead song I am a creep on national TV. And I do believe those who say Weinstein raped them. I do hope Weinstein goes to jail for life.
But I do not fault a prosecutor who declines filing criminal charges based only on he said she said.
Me.
(35,454 posts)"The New Yorker" reportedly obtained a tape recording of Harvey Weinstein coaxing a young actress admitting to groping a woman that was secretly captured during an NYPD sting operation. CNN is trying to confirm the authenticity of the tape with the NYPD, but the department confirms they investigated a misdemeanor sexual abuse complaint against Weinstein. His reps say they have no comment on the tape
http://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2017/10/10/the-new-yorker-weinstein-nypd-sting-audio-sot.hln.
The way the interaction unfolds (listen below) is all too familiar. Weinstein, who was captured on tape through a police investigation, can be heard alternately pleading with and threatening the model, Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, citing his own influence and power while trying to diminish her.
At one point, he tells her, Im a famous guy.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/harvey-weinstein-donald-trump-sequel_us_59dcea8be4b0a8e1367f1bae
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)"I do not know the facts and therefore have no opinion on that matter..."
Would if that apply to vote-purchasing as well... Sigh.
quartz007
(1,216 posts)he would feel only bones of a skeleton.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Try again.
If YOU said you met with (random person) and they groped you, it becomes a much different equation.
Cicada
(4,533 posts)I guess I wasnt clear. If Ann told police that she met alone with Obama and Obama groped her Ann, not that he groped me Cicada - would that justify Vance bringing charges against Obama?
I vote no.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)JustAnotherGen
(31,828 posts)Obama would never do that.
Use Trump instead - since he wouldn't have gone for her bones - he would have gone right for the p*ssy.
Cicada
(4,533 posts)If we prosecuted people because we think they are bad people, ignoring the legal requirement that we have proof, then we will rapidly become a Tyranny. Trump would prosecute Hillary and send her to jail. We have civil liberties to protect bad people because our founding fathers understood that the prejudices of the majority, if not limited, would lead to injustice. The argument that Obama should not be prosecuted because he is a good person while Weinstein should be prosecuted on exactly the same evidence because he is a bad person would lead to tyranny in a very short time.
JustAnotherGen
(31,828 posts)Because Obama has not done this, is not TIED to this, and all you are doing is TRYING to tie him to this 'thing' in search engines.
Knock it off - Obama should not be tried because he has NEVER been accused of doing this.
Now move it to TRUMP who is rapey and Coulter would love it if he grabbed her p*ssy meaning he couldn't be PROSECUTED either.
Why do you continue to insist on creating search engine 'hits' tying this to President Obama?
That's just plain flat out EVIL - not YOU. The action. I would never attack someone like that at DU -
OR PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!!!
Skittles
(153,164 posts)she was not a good candidate for that kind of sting