ROME — Earlier this month, after the allegations surfaced of systematic sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein, the once all-powerful movie producer sent a message to his old friend and employee Fabrizio Lombardo.

It asked simply, “How are you?”

Mr. Lombardo, 58, sitting for an interview in a luxurious hotel lobby last week, said he still had not been able to bring himself to respond. But the answer was clearly not good.

The two men were once close. Mr. Lombardo worked for Mr. Weinstein as the head of Miramax Italy. He helped save Mr. Weinstein’s life after the movie mogul fell dangerously ill on the island of St. Barts and Mr. Weinstein served as the best man at Mr. Lombardo’s wedding in 2003.

Now, the fallout from Mr. Weinstein’s catastrophic decline has engulfed him, too. Mr. Lombardo has become the object of scornful media coverage amid allegations by a well-known Italian actress and by a former model that he knowingly led them into private meetings in which Mr. Weinstein sexually harassed them nearly 20 years ago.