Content warning: the following article has references to sexual assault allegations.
A lawsuit filed by actress Rose McGowan against former movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been dismissed in federal court.
The suit alleged that Weinstein engaged in racketeering to silence McGowan and take her career off track before she accused him of rape, but it was dismissed by a federal judge, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
This all happened a month after McGowan fired her lawyers and began acting as her own attorney. The suit was reportedly dismissed by Judge Otis D. Wright II for failing to meet filing deadlines that had been extended for her.
Though much of the suit had already been previously dismissed by Wright last year, this latest bit of news represents the first time it’s been thrown out in its entirety. In addition, Wright’s dismissal of the central claim that Weinsten violated federal racketeering law was done so with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled.
The suit was originally filed back in 2019 in L.A. alleging that Weinstein, in tow with two of his former attorneys and an Israeli intelligence firm, conspired to defraud and smear McGowan’s name as she was preparing to publicly name the former movie producer back at the onset of the #MeToo movement in 2017.
McGowan has repeatedly come forward to the public accusing Weinstein of sexually abusing her.
Separately, Weinstein is also facing 11 counts of sexual assault in court, to which he has pleaded not guilty to all charges. A judge rejected a motion from Weinstein’s attorneys Tuesday to dismiss the charges on the grounds of prosecutors improperly using an expert in “rape trauma syndrome” during grand jury testimony. Weinstein is currently awaiting trial for this case, for which no date has been set.
Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence over rape and sexual assault convictions in New York.
