Lawyers for disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein won permission Thursday to publish an unnamed sex abuse victim’s emails in a motion to toss his criminal case.
A Manhattan Supreme Court indictment accuses Weinstein of six sex crimes against three women for which he faces up to life in prison.
His civil lawyers filed a request for an “emergency” hearing in Delaware bankruptcy court Aug. 1, which was held Thursday afternoon.
The attorneys were granted permission to use about 40 emails as exhibits to a pre-trial motion in the criminal case “seeking dismissal of the indictment.”
But any identifying information about the victim must be redacted, the judge ruled.
“It is Mr. Weinstein’s belief that these emails are material and exculpatory and the failure of the district attorney to provide this evidence to the grand jury warrants a dismissal of the indictment,” wrote lawyer Scott Cousins.
Criminal defense lawyer Ben Brafman is expected to use the emails in the dismissal motion, which is due Aug. 3.
In June, after a protracted battle, bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath ordered the company to turn over some of those emails —but included a strict “attorney’s eyes only” provision to protect the confidentiality of the victims.
The ruling modifies that order, allowing Weinstein to use specific emails from one victim in his criminal defense.
The fallen producer, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 80 women, lost access to his work emails after the Weinstein Company fired him over the allegations in October 2017.
During a May 8 hearing in the bankruptcy case, Weinstein’s lawyer Cousins conceded, “He’s not — after, perhaps, Mr. Schneiderman and Mr. Cosby, he’s probably not the most treasured person in the US right now.”
Former state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned after four women accused him of assault in The New Yorker magazine and Bill Cosby, known as America’s Dad, was convicted of three counts of sexual assault.
Brafman and the Manhattan DA’s Office declined to comment.