Sources: Grand Jury Expected To Consider Harvey Weinstein Allegations Next Week
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An explosive new report claims movie mogul Harvey Weinstein used a so-called "army of spies" to block the reporting of sexual misconduct allegations against him.
The report comes as law enforcement in New York takes steps to move forward with a grand jury process to consider an indictment.
Sources tell CBS2 a grand jury is expected to be impaneled next week, and will take several weeks.
In the fall of 2016, nearly a year before any allegations against Weinstein had surfaced, Weinstein allegedly initiated what The New Yorker calls a concerted effort to silence his accusers.
The magazine claims Weinstein enlisted the help of an "army of spies" to track actresses and journalists attempting to publicize allegations against him.
The article describes black-ops tactics to allegedly gather information. In one example, a private investigator posed as a women's rights activist in a meeting with actress Rose McGowan.
McGowan would later accuse Weinstein of rape.
The New Yorker says that investigator was an employee of Black Cube, an investigative firm run largely by former Israeli intelligence officers. The work by Black Cube was allegedly run through one of Weinstein's lawyers, high-powered attorney David Boies, who famously represented Al Gore in the 2000 Supreme Court election dispute.
In a contract between Boies' law firm and Black Cube, The New Yorker report says it directed Black Cube to help expose "…information that would stop the publication of a New York Times story about Weinstein's abuses… ."
Over a year-long period, Weinstein's team of investigators collected intelligence on dozens of people, including psychological profiles that The New Yorker says focused on personal or sexual histories.
According to the magazine, the goal of using the spies was to subvert and intimidate his accusers.
A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said Tuesday his office is not commenting on the investigation or its timeline.
