enhanced_deficit
06-05-2018, 02:30 PM
EXCLUSIVE: Manhattan DA doing business with firm that dug up dirt on Harvey Weinstein’s sex accuser
By James Fanelli
Jun 04, 2018 | 9:10 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/resizer/LAeeh9eOwaWQa9F2YyEK7dMOaMs=/1400x0/www.trbimg.com/img-5b15b8d6/turbine/ny-1528150226-f0sr2wcxyf-snap-image
Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance's office has a contract with a private investigative firm that worked for Harvey Weinstein. (Frank Franklin II / AP)
A private investigative firm that dug up dirt on one of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers has a contract with the Manhattan district attorney’s office that states it can work for clients who may be at odds with the DA.
In the past three years, K2 Intelligence has provided analytical support to the DA’s office for its investigations into public corruption, rackets and cybercrime.
K2, which for years employed Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.’s close friend and campaign adviser Thomas Thacher, signed a contract with the DA’s office in September 2015.
The deal came a few months after Weinstein’s lawyers reportedly hired the investigative firm to dredge up information on Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez and to thwart criminal charges based on her accusations.
Gutierrez accused Weinstein of groping her in late March 2015. At the time, she worked with NYPD investigators to record Weinstein admitting to grabbing her.
Vance’s office declined to prosecute the case in April 2015, stating the recordings didn’t provide enough evidence that a crime was committed.
Five months later, K2 and David Szuchman, then the chief of the DA’s investigation division, inked a letter of engagement in which Vance’s office agreed to pay K2 employees between $250 and $325 an hour for their investigative services.
The DA’s office declined to comment on whether it was aware of K2’s work for Weinstein’s legal team when the contract was signed.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/ny-metro-vance-contract-conflict-weinstein-20180604-story.html
Related
Israeli Intelligence Firm Now in Mueller’s Sights (https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-mysterious-intelligence-firm-now-in-muellers-sights)
In the fall of 2016, Donald Trump Jr. and other key aides to the future president reportedly met in Trump Tower (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/19/us/politics/trump-jr-saudi-uae-nader-prince-zamel.html) with Joel Zamel, the founder of a company called Wikistrat.
Wikistrat bills itself as a “crowdsourced” geopolitical analysis firm based in Washington, D.C. But interviews with current and former employees and documents reviewed by The Daily Beast tell a different story: that the vast majority of Wikistrat’s clients were foreign governments; that Wikistrat is, for all intents and purposes, an Israeli firm; and that the company’s work was not just limited to analysis. It also engaged in intelligence collection.
Robert Mueller’s office is investigating (https://www.wsj.com/articles/mueller-probe-into-u-a-e-influence-broadens-1522718922) Wikistrat and Zamel, according to The Wall Street Journal, as the special counsel’s probe expands into Middle Eastern governments’ attempts to influence American politics.
By James Fanelli
Jun 04, 2018 | 9:10 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/resizer/LAeeh9eOwaWQa9F2YyEK7dMOaMs=/1400x0/www.trbimg.com/img-5b15b8d6/turbine/ny-1528150226-f0sr2wcxyf-snap-image
Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance's office has a contract with a private investigative firm that worked for Harvey Weinstein. (Frank Franklin II / AP)
A private investigative firm that dug up dirt on one of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers has a contract with the Manhattan district attorney’s office that states it can work for clients who may be at odds with the DA.
In the past three years, K2 Intelligence has provided analytical support to the DA’s office for its investigations into public corruption, rackets and cybercrime.
K2, which for years employed Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.’s close friend and campaign adviser Thomas Thacher, signed a contract with the DA’s office in September 2015.
The deal came a few months after Weinstein’s lawyers reportedly hired the investigative firm to dredge up information on Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez and to thwart criminal charges based on her accusations.
Gutierrez accused Weinstein of groping her in late March 2015. At the time, she worked with NYPD investigators to record Weinstein admitting to grabbing her.
Vance’s office declined to prosecute the case in April 2015, stating the recordings didn’t provide enough evidence that a crime was committed.
Five months later, K2 and David Szuchman, then the chief of the DA’s investigation division, inked a letter of engagement in which Vance’s office agreed to pay K2 employees between $250 and $325 an hour for their investigative services.
The DA’s office declined to comment on whether it was aware of K2’s work for Weinstein’s legal team when the contract was signed.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/ny-metro-vance-contract-conflict-weinstein-20180604-story.html
Related
Israeli Intelligence Firm Now in Mueller’s Sights (https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-mysterious-intelligence-firm-now-in-muellers-sights)
In the fall of 2016, Donald Trump Jr. and other key aides to the future president reportedly met in Trump Tower (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/19/us/politics/trump-jr-saudi-uae-nader-prince-zamel.html) with Joel Zamel, the founder of a company called Wikistrat.
Wikistrat bills itself as a “crowdsourced” geopolitical analysis firm based in Washington, D.C. But interviews with current and former employees and documents reviewed by The Daily Beast tell a different story: that the vast majority of Wikistrat’s clients were foreign governments; that Wikistrat is, for all intents and purposes, an Israeli firm; and that the company’s work was not just limited to analysis. It also engaged in intelligence collection.
Robert Mueller’s office is investigating (https://www.wsj.com/articles/mueller-probe-into-u-a-e-influence-broadens-1522718922) Wikistrat and Zamel, according to The Wall Street Journal, as the special counsel’s probe expands into Middle Eastern governments’ attempts to influence American politics.