Ex-Mossad Spies Hired by Weinstein to Silence his Accusers

Former Israeli Mossad agents were among the hordes of private investigators that Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein hired to follow the women who accused him of sexual assault and rape, reports an expose in The New Yorker.

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Reporter Ronan Farrow wrote that the two intelligence firms hired by Weinstein include Black Cube, “an enterprise run largely by former officers of Mossad and other Israeli intelligence agencies.” The other is Kroll, one of the world’s largest corporate-intelligence companies.

The story reveals that a Black Cube agent investigated actress Rose McGowan, who has accused Weinstein of sexual assault. The agent's mission was to prevent McGowan from going public with her allegations.

Black Cube’s contract included a bonus of hundreds of thousands of dollars if the firm was able to stop McGowan and others from publishing their accounts of assault at the hands of Weinstein, according to the report.

In May of this year, Farrow reports, the actress was contacted by a woman who introduced herself as Diana Filip and claimed to be a women’s rights advocate. She invited McGowan to speak at a women's rights gala in exchange for a fee of US$60,000.

It was later discovered by the reporter that 'Diana Filip' was in fact an "alias for a former officer in the Israeli Defense Forces, who originally hailed from Eastern Europe and was working for Black Cube." The company the agent claimed to work for, London-based Reuben Capital Partners, did not exist.

On Tuesday, Israeli media confirmed that former Prime Minister Ehud Barak had provided Weinstein information about Black Cube.

Barak told media that he was asked a year ago by Weinstein if he knew about an Israeli security firm Weinstein had heard about, and whether it could help him deal with "business issues," Haaretz reported.

Black Cube – which has branches in Tel Aviv, London and Paris – offers the services of "highly experienced (agents) trained in Israel's elite military and governmental intelligence units."

Over the course of the past 12 months, Weinstein has used Black Cube and Kroll to "target" dozens more individuals, compiling psychological profiles and personally following the investigations.

After the story was published, actress Asia Argento, who has alleged she was raped by Weinstein 20 years ago, tweeted that she and other victims initially felt compelled to maintain their silence after being tailed by ex-Mossad agents. Argento then describes the experience as "terrifying."

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Sopranos star Annabella Sciorra, who has also accused Weinstein of sexual assault, told the New Yorker that the use of private investigators by Weinstein had scared her "because I knew what it meant to be threatened by Harvey." "I was in fear of him finding me,” she said.