Federal judge dismisses McGowan claims alleging collusion by Weinstein, attorneys

Actress Rose McGowan failed to properly allege a conspiracy by film producer Harvey Weinstein, David Boies and Lisa Bloom to prevent her from revealing that Weinstein raped her in her memoir Brave, a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Tuesday.

While dismissing the claims, U.S. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright, II in Los Angeles said he would give McGowan 14 days to file a supplemental brief indicating how, if at all, she intends to amend claims brought against Weinstein, Boies and Bloom under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

"The court dismisses the...substantive RICO claim against Weinstein, David Boies, and Boies Schiller Flexner LLP," Wright wrote. "Because McGowan has not alleged a substantive RICO violation against any Defendant, McGowan has not alleged a RICO conspiracy against any Defendant."

"Moreover, the Court finds it highly unlikely that further amendment would change this result," he continued. "Before finalizing this determination, however, the Court will provide McGowan with one more opportunity to be heard on this issue."

In 2019, McGowan sued Weinstein and Boies for allegedly attempting to prevent McGowan from publicly disclosing in her memoir Brave that Weinstein raped her at the Sundance film festival in 1997. McGowan claims she "was hardly Weinstein's only victim,' and that the film producer propositioned numerous other actresses. If they refused his advances, Weinstein would retaliate by attempting to ruin their reputations in the film industry, the filing states.

McGowan alleged Boies, and Bloom helped Weinstein's efforts to cover up his alleged misdeeds. According to the allegations recited in Tuesday's order, Boies was involved in an effort to convince The New Yorker not to publish stories about Weinstein's alleged 1998 sexual assault of a former employee of Weinstein's production company. More recently, in 2015, Boies was involved in Weinstein's efforts to avoid consequences following Weinstein's sexual assault of Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, according to the filing.

Wright said McGowan failed to prove a pattern of racketeering activity and described her allegation as lacking specificity.

"This allegation, like the allegations about the 2002 New Yorker article, leave the Court wanting for significantly more detail about Boies's role in the incident; without more detail, the Court cannot tell if Boies was participating in a pattern of racketeering activity," Wright wrote. "Second, and more fundamentally, this allegation leaves the Court wondering about exactly what the effort was: to discredit or silence Gutierrez (indeed, it is not even clear if Gutierrez was attempting to speak out or testify), to avoid charges, or something else entirely. In any case, none of these efforts are similar to the effort Weinstein and Boies undertook against McGowan here."

Weinstein is represented in the matter by Los Angeles attorney Phyllis Kupferstein of Kupferstein Manuel LLP. Boies is represented by Janet I. Levine of Kendall Brill and Kelly LLP and Bloom is represented by Eric M George of Ellis George Cipollone. Rose McGowan v. Harvey Weinstein, 19-cv-09105. (C.D. Cal., filed Oct. 23, 2019).