As one of Harvey Weinstein’s alleged victims testified inside a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday, another of his accusers underscored her call for a new investigation into how her sex abuse complaint against the disgraced movie mogul ran aground in 2015.
Ambra Battilana Gutierrez gathered with her lawyer and the former NYPD chief of the Special Victims Unit outside 100 Centre St. to urge the U.S. attorney in Manhattan to open a new probe of how her complaint that Weinstein groped her in his Tribeca office on March 27, 2015, ended without charges being filed.
“For me, it’s not ongoing. It’s just starting. I was never able to have a trial for my case. I really urge the U.S. attorney to start this and finally find out what went wrong,” said Gutierrez, who was the first woman to file a police report against Weinstein.
“I risked everything to stop him — first by rejecting him, then by reporting him, and finally by participating in a sting operation,” she said. “In the end, he walked free and my entire life and career were destroyed.”
As the Daily News reported Tuesday, Gutierrez’s lawyer, Sarena Townsend, sent a letter to acting U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton alleging that high-level officials in the NYPD and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office were part of a “cover-up” as Weinstein’s legal team dug up dirt on Gutierrez in an attempt to undermine the case.
The key source for the claim is Michael Osgood, who oversaw the NYPD Special Victims Unit from 2010 to 2018 and the Gutierrez investigation. Osgood told The News, in his first extended interview on the case, that within 24 hours, there was more than enough evidence to arrest Weinstein for misdemeanor sex abuse.
That evidence included a controlled phone call and a controlled meeting in which Gutierrez wore a wire. In both instances, Weinstein made incriminating statements, Townsend’s letter said.
“Back in 2015 and still today, New York City District Attorneys’ offices prosecute misdemeanor sex crime cases on a quarter of the evidence they had against Weinstein,” said Townsend, a former prosecutor in the Brooklyn D.A.’s sex crimes bureau. “Most times, the complainant’s word is all they have and they still prosecute the case.”
Osgood said his detectives were on the verge of arresting Weinstein and even were told by the head of the Manhattan D.A.’s sex crime bureau, “I don’t see why you can’t arrest him.”
But once Weinstein’s influence machine got rolling, the case “nosedived,” as Townsend put it in her letter to Clayton. The D.A.’s office ordered detectives to hold off on the arrest and on April 10, 2015, concluded no charges would be filed.
More than two years after Gutierrez’s complaint was rejected, in October 2017, The New Yorker and The New York Times broke the sprawling story of Weinstein’s long history of sexual abuse of women, often followed by intimidation into silence and secret payouts.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed Tuesday the letter had been received, but declined further comment. The Manhattan D.A.’s Office declined comment. A former official with the office defended the handling of the case, saying the decision was “based on the merits.”
Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s current defense lawyer, called the letter “a disgrace” and “ridiculous” in a statement Tuesday.
Townsend said a website has been created about the campaign calling demanding a new investigation in Gutierrez’s case at investigatenyc.com.
