Weinstein scandal: New, unnamed actress sues Weinstein for sexual battery

Jayme Deerwester | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption The meteoric rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein Harvey Weinstein was once at the very top of Hollywood. As accusations of his sexual predation came to light, it didn't just trigger his downfall. It ushered in a tidal wave of exposure of sexual impropriety in the film industry.

Allegations against comedian Louis C.K., CW showrunner Andrew Kreisberg and One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn may have pushed the Harvey Weinstein scandal out of the spotlight, but there is still news involving the biggest target of them all.

The latest developments as they happen:

New, unnamed actress sues Weinstein in L.A.

An unnamed actress has sued Harvey Weinstein for sexual battery over a pair of incidents in which she alleges the film producer forced her into sexual situations in 2015 and 2016, the Associated Press reports.

The lawsuit alleges Weinstein held the actress against her will in 2015 while he masturbated in a Beverly Hills hotel room.

Weinstein dangled a job on the show Marco Polo for the actress, TMZ reports. In 2016, the actress identified only as "Jane Doe" says Weinstein threw her on his bed in a hotel room, started performing oral sex on her, then held her down while he masturbated on her.

The suit says the woman was able to break free and flee the room. According to TMZ, she did not get a role on Marco Polo.

Weinstein's representative Holly Baird told the USA TODAY in a statement that the producer cannot speak to anonymous allegations, but denies all allegations of non-consensual sex.

"Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances," the statement read. "Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual.”

Beverly Hills police have said they are investigating allegations against Weinstein, but have not provided further details.

Harvey Weinstein scandal:: A complete list of the 80 accusers

Bryan Cranston: There could be a way back for Weinstein, Spacey

In a new interview with the BBC, Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Bryan Cranston said he could potentially see a way for Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey to redeem themselves in the future.

"It would take time," stipulated the Breaking Bad star, who was an investor in Weinstein's now-defunct 2015 musical Finding Neverland. "It would take a society to forgive them. And it would take tremendous contrition on their part. And a knowingness that they have a deeply-rooted, psychological, emotional problem that takes years to mend. If they were to show us that they put the work in and are truly sorry and making amends — and not defending their actions, but asking for forgiveness, then maybe down the road, there is room for that."

Both men were roundly condemned for their initial statements: Spacey for conflating pedophilia with homosexuality by coming out in his, and Weinstein for blaming his behavior on having come up in the permissive culture of the 1960s and '70s.

"Sexual predatory behavior is not a Hollywood problem," Cranston pointed out. "It's a societal problem and we're seeing that everywhere. What's so great (is) that it's being exposed. Young men and women should not have to tolerate being mistreated. We're an enlightened society. Enough already."

AmfAR chair Kenneth Cole rejects calls to resign over financial deal he made with Weinstein

Fashion designer Kenneth Cole, under fire for a controversial deal he made with Weinstein in connection with an AIDS charity, rejected calls from more than 60 AIDS activists to resign as chairman of the amfAR research charity he has led since 2005.

In the statement, Cole denounced Weinstein's alleged behavior as "despicable," but said their deal was legal and any suggestion he entered it as a "favor" to Weinstein is "ridiculous and patently false."

NBC News reported Monday night that it has obtained a letter signed by over 60 activists, including Olympic diver Greg Louganis, playwright Larry Kramer, AIDS Quilt founder Cleve Jones and amfAR board member Peter Staley, urging Cole to quit after details emerged about a financial arrangement he made with Weinstein.

The letter requested that New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman take action if Cole refused.

On Tuesday, Cole sent a statement to USA TODAY declaring the letter is "based on a false narrative and distortion of facts." He said he's served on the amfAR board for 30 years, helping to raise hundreds of millions for research on HIV and AIDS.

"I have no intention of abandoning that mission because of a transaction that was determined to be legal and ethical and was engaged in because it served amfAR's mission," his statement said.

He also stressed that he and Weinstein were never friends, that he worked with him on amfAR only because it was good for the charity, and that he didn't know about Weinstein's "despicable behavior" until he read about it.

"Any suggestion that I somehow made this deal as a favor to Weinstein is ridiculous and patently false,” his statement said.

On Nov. 2, The New York Times reported that Weinstein and Cole worked out a deal to funnel $600,000 from a 2015 charity auction to the nonprofit American Repertory Theater in Massachusetts, which staged the Weinstein-produced Finding Neverland before it transferred to Broadway.

NBC says it has documents showing Cole authorized the wire transfer over the objections of amfAR's chief executive and without obtaining permission from its board of directors.

Cole told NBC that he had "independent legal counsel review the contribution in question, and they concluded that nothing illegal or inappropriate had occurred."

AmfAR board members Vincent Roberti, Arlen Andelson, Jonathan Canno and Mervyn Silverman told The New York Post's Page Six, “We are extremely concerned about this and other actions by (Cole) and other members of the board, and their apparent failure to abide by our governance policies on a number of occasions, which we believe was in clear violation of their fiduciary duties.”

The attorney general's office confirmed to Page Six that it was mediating the dispute but was not formally investigating it.

In a statement, board member Staley told NBC, "Kenneth’s complicity in Weinstein’s unethical fundraising transactions, along with the resulting cover-up using forced non-disclosure agreements and Weinstein’s selected law firm, risk doing real damage to amfAR’s vitally important work in AIDS research and policy issues."

The network also says Cole urged those board members to sign a nondisclosure agreement regarding Weinstein at the request of the producer, who promised to donate $1 million to the charity if they complied.

USA TODAY has reached out to the New York attorney general's office as well as representatives for Weinstein for comment and has not received a response.

Creditor sues Weinstein Co. after it defaults on $44M loan

Lender AI International has sued both Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Company in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleging the studio defaulted on $44 million of a $45 million loan the moment they fired co-founder Harvey Weinstein over his sexual-misconduct scandal.

Weinstein has consistently denied any non-consensual activity with the nearly 80 women who have gone on the record accusing him.

AI International Holdings, which is based in the British Virgin Islands and owned by Ukrainian-born businessman Len Blavatnik's Access Industries, says the Weinstein Company issued them a promissory note on Sept. 29, 2016. That document included a clause saying the company would be in default in the event of a "material adverse change" in its business that would impair their ability to pay back the loan.

"Weinstein’s termination and the events leading to and surrounding that termination have left the business of Weinstein (Holdings LLC) and its affiliates in shambles," the complaint filed by Richard I. Werder Jr. of New York-based firm Quinn Emmanuel reads. It adds, "Weinstein’s alleged activities have left Weinstein Holdco exposed to potentially massive liabilities and have severely, if not fatally, damaged its standing in the marketplace. Published reports indicate that members of Weinstein Holdco’s board of directors were aware of settlements paid by Weinstein since at least 2015."

In its complaint, AI International says it notified the Weinstein Co. it was in default on Oct. 10, two days after they say the studio triggered the material adverse change clause by firing Weinstein over his alleged multiple acts of sexual misconduct as outlined in a New York Times story published Oct. 5.

They say the Weinstein Co. also missed two interest payments due on Oct. 14 and Nov. 1. Now they want the $43.5 million owed on the principal loan and $481,000 in interest, in addition to attorney's fees.

The financial health of the Weinstein Co. has been debated since the scandal broke. AI's lawsuit expressed concern that a bankruptcy filing is "increasingly likely."

Weinstein's representative Holly K. Baird declined USA TODAY's request comment; the Weinstein Company did not immediately respond.

List: The 79 women who've accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct

Contributing: The Associated Press