Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer has said his sexual assault case has devolved into a mess of lying witnesses and hidden evidence and should be thrown out.
In a court filing on Thursday, lawyer Benjamin Brafman said defence investigators had turned up evidence raising doubts about Weinstein’s accusers.
He said the defence spoke to a friend of one accuser who said the alleged victim and Weinstein had been “hooking up” consensually for a long time.
Harvey Weinstein arrives at a previous court hearing (Seth Wenig/AP)
Mr Brafman said the friend felt pressured to corroborate the woman’s rape allegation but “declined to make up a story”.
Weinstein’s side also believes that police set up a phone call between the film producer and one of his accusers shortly before his arrest, but that it failed to produce incriminating evidence.
The Manhattan prosecutor’s office did not have an immediate response.
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer calls for case to be thrown out
