The New York State attorney general will review the Manhattan district attorney’s handling of a 2015 sexual abuse case involving disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Monday evening.
The announcement follows an open letter from Time’s Up, the female-led organization formed in the aftermath of the Weinstein scandal, to “open an investigation” of District Attorney Cyrus Vance and his office “to determine the facts related to the decision not to prosecute Harvey Weinstein for sexual abuse crimes against one of his accusers, Ambra Battilana.”
Back in October, The New Yorker released an audio recording of Weinstein speaking with young model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez as part of a 2015 sting operation. The NYPD set up the sting after Gutierrez told authorities that Weinstein groped her the day before.
In the recording, Weinstein makes potentially incriminating comments to Gutierrez, but Weinstein was not arrested or charged with a crime at the time.
After the tape’s release, the New York Police Department and the Manhattan DA’s office traded public finger-pointing.
Vance has also faced criticism for accepting a $10,000 donation from David Boies, an attorney who has represented Weinstein, in August 2015, according to campaign financial disclosure forms from the New York State Board of Elections.
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