Harvey Weinstein’s net worth: Why is he suing the Weinstein Corporation?

Harvey Weinstein was accused of various sex crimes, was ultimately found guilty & sentenced to 23 years in prison. Weinstein was a co-founder of the film production company called The Weinstein Company, which was created in 2005.

In its time (they’re now filing for bankruptcy) the film company created a number of extremely popular films including Silver Linings Playbook, Django Unchained, and The Imitation Game, to name a few.

A mere two days after Weinstein was publicly accused of his crimes, the Weinstein Company fired him. Now, Weinstein is attempting to pursue arbitration for wrongful termination – despite the fact he’s currently in jail.

Court filing

At the moment, one of Weinstein’s lawyers has submitted a court filing which asks for the court “to lift the automatic stay that halts outside legal proceedings involving Chapter 11 debtors”. In less complicated speech, right now, because the company is filing for bankruptcy no other legal actions can be taken against them while things are being settled.

However, Weinstein wants the court to rule against this automatic measure so that he can pursue his own legal case against them for wrongful termination. Julia Klein, one of his lawyers, says, “Newly discovered information and facts, gleaned during the course of investigation and discovery in collateral matters, have yielded evidence that corroborates the wrongful termination claim that is subject of the arbitration.”

Grounds for the lawsuit

The Weinstein Company & Harvey Weinstein had a contract with a provision “requiring binding arbitration in New York for any dispute between the parties, including claims for discrimination and for violation of any federal, state or local law.”

So, it appears Harvey Weinstein thinks he has grounds for a wrongful termination suit because of this.

Harvey Weinstein arrives at court for a bail hearing, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Why sue?

Harvey Weinstein is currently serving a prison sentence over two decades in length, which would make him over 90 years old when he’s eventually released – if he’s able to live that long. Plus, he has an extradition hearing in December of this year which may have him sent to Los Angeles to face trial for more sexual assault charges – meaning he could rack up more time on his sentence.

Suing his former company seems completely pointless, unless it’s for some kind of revenge scheme, though the company already seems to be very likely to go under at this point, so they’d likely barely even notice the extra kick while they’re down.

It isn’t as if Weinstein could possibly be concerned about the major hit his net worth has taken from being fired & convicted of rape. If he is concerned about his net worth, it’s extremely misplaced since it’s horribly unlikely he’ll ever have the chance to use it again . . . unless he wants to keep paying lawyers.

Harvey Weinstein suing his former company seems a bit silly, but as of now we’ll just have to wait and see whether the judge grants the request to lift the ban on outside lawsuits regarding the Weinstein Company. Either way, we’re pretty certain Harvey Weinstein’s net worth isn’t going to see an improvement.