UK police investigating Harvey Weinstein assault allegations from nine women
It comes on the same day Uma Thurman alleged the movie mogul assaulted her.
British police investigating Harvey Weinstein have received two further allegations of sexual assault, Scotland Yard said.
A woman alleged the disgraced movie mogul assaulted her in Westminster in 2011 while a separate alleged incident took place outside the UK.
Reported to police in November but only now made public, it brings the total number of women who have reported Weinstein to British police to nine.
Officers have now received 14 separate allegations of sexual assault on dates ranging from the 1980s to 2015. Three are said to have taken place outside of the UK.
A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said: “On 13 November an allegation was received that the man sexually assaulted a woman (Victim 9) in Westminster in 2011 and outside the jurisdiction of the UK in 2010.
“The second allegation will be passed to the relevant police force in due course.”
Scotland Yard did not name Weinstein but confirmed officers from Met’s Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command are investigating allegations of sexual assault from nine victims under Operation Kaguyak.
Police in the UK first confirmed they had opened an investigation into Weinstein in early October after Merseyside Police received an allegation of sexual assault in the London area in the 1980s, and referred it to Scotland Yard.
British actress Lysette Anthony said she had told the Metropolitan Police she was attacked by Weinstein in her London home in the late 1980s.
On October 31 last year an alleged eighth victim told UK police she had been assaulted by Weinstein in the Republic of Ireland. The allegation has been passed onto Irish police.
Officers in New York and Los Angeles have also opened investigations into allegations made against the movie mogul.
On Saturday US actress Thurman, 47, claimed the disgraced film producer had assaulted her following the release of the Weinstein-funded movie Pulp Fiction in 1994, and also recalled a second incident in which it is alleged he threatened to derail her career.
She told the New York Times Weinstein tried to push her down and shove himself on top of her and attempted to expose himself.
“He did all kinds of unpleasant things,” she said. “But he didn’t actually put his back into it and force me. You’re like an animal wriggling away, like a lizard.
“I was doing anything I could to get the train back on the track. My track. Not his track.”
Thurman said she told Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction director, and close friend of Weinstein, Quentin Tarantino about the alleged incident and the film maker confronted Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001.
Hours later The Miramax co-founder apologised to Thurman, she said.
“I just walked away stunned, like ‘ok, well there’s my half-assed apology’,” Thurman says.
Following the first alleged assault, she said Weinstein sent her flowers, with a note telling her she had “great instincts”.
The revelations come after she previously suggested on social media she had a Weinstein story to tell in the wake of dozens of allegations against the movie mogul, including from some of Hollywood’s biggest stars
Responding to a request for comment on the Thurman allegation, Weinstein’s spokeswoman issued a number of photographs of the actress and movie producer together that “demonstrate the strong relationship” they had.
“We wish the New York Times would have published them,” she added.
The spokeswoman adds Weinstein acknowledges he made “an awkward pass” at Thurman in England 25 years ago “for which he immediately apologised and deeply regrets”.
“However, her claims about being physically assaulted are untrue. And this is the first time we have heard those details,” she adds.
Weinstein is “saddened and puzzled” as to why Thurman waited 25 years to make the allegations public, the statement said.
“He and Thurman have shared a very close and mutually beneficial working relationship where they have made several very successful film projects together.
“This is the first time we are hearing that she considered Weinstein an enemy and the pictures of their history tell a completely different story,” it adds.
Weinstein is considering legal action following Thurman’s allegations, with his attorney Ben Brafman saying: “Ms Thurman’s statements to the Times are being carefully examined and investigated before deciding whether any legal action against her would be appropriate.”
Rose McGowan, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cara Delevingne are among the high-profile women who have made claims about his behaviour towards them.
Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.
