CAA Claims Julia Ormond Wanted $15M To Keep Agency Out Of Harvey Weinstein Lawsuit; “We Will Expose The Real Facts,” Actress’ Lawyer Says
05.10.2023 - 02:27
/ deadline.com
CAA had been silent all day Wednesday since Julia Ormond named the uber-agency and Disney in her sexual battery lawsuit against the imprisoned Harvey Weinstein, but tonight the Bryan Lourd-led company is calling its inclusion in the calling the action “baseless,”
In fact, CAA stopped just short of citing the claim of breach of fiduciary duty by their former client as a shakedown of sorts.
“CAA takes all allegations of sexual assault and abuse seriously, and has compassion for Ms. Ormond and the experience she described in her complaint,” an agency spokesperson said tonight. “However, the claims that Ms. Ormond has levied against the agency are completely without merit. Through counsel, Ms. Ormond approached CAA in March with these allegations about the agency. Knowing these allegations to be untrue, the agency then retained attorney Loretta Lynch and her law firm, Paul Weiss, to defend the company. Their review found nothing to support Ms. Ormond’s claims against CAA.”
Ormond, now represented by Gersh, claims in the suit that Lourd and Kevin Huvane dissuaded the rising star from taking legal action against Weinstein in 1995 to avoid incurring the producer’s wrath and hurting her career. Mentioning the standard settlement figure with the then-mogul being about $100,000, the filing in New York Supreme Court goes on to allege that Ormand’s CAA agents knew of “multiple confidential settlements that Weinstein reached to keep his conduct hidden from public exposure.”
Not so, says CAA tonight. In fact, it was Ormond who wanted money in 2023.
“CAA received a demand, through its counsel, from Ms. Ormond’s attorneys, that CAA pay $15,000,000 in exchange for Ms. Ormond not making the allegations against CAA public,” the CAA