Lawyers for Harvey Weinstein asked the court let the disgraced producer travel to Italy and Spain to work on a stage production of “Cinema Paradiso” — a request a judge swiftly slapped down.
In a letter to Justice James Burke, defense attorney Arthur Aidala said the fallen movie mogul wants to fly to Europe from Aug. 12 to Aug. 22 for the project.
Burke, in a terse one-line decision issued Wednesday, wrote, “The request for a change in bail conditions is denied.”
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Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon also opposed the last-minute business trip scheduled less than a month before his predatory sex assault and rape trial is slated to begin Sept. 9 in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Aidala wrote in the letter that, “His [Weinstein’s] work in Italy would involve in-person meetings with composer Ennio Morriconi, who is over 90 years old and unable to travel, and the film-maker and business partner, Giuseppe Tornatore.”
Tornatore directed the 1988 Oscar-winning movie, which was distributed by Miramax, a company Weinstein co-founded.
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The letter says that Weinstein also planned to meet with designers, directors and investors in Spain. The producer had to turn over his passport as part of his $1 million bail package, which includes an ankle monitor.
“This trip is critical to Mr. Weinstein’s ability to earn money to pay, inter alia, his considerable legal expenses, as he has been unable to work here in the United States for two years,” Aidala wrote. A copy of the deal memo says that Tornotore paid S2BN Entertainment $50,000 for the initial option of the film’s live-stage rights. The court papers do not state what Weinstein would earn from the project.
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In the papers, Aidala proposes that detective-turned-private investigator Herman Weisberg travel with Weinstein as his 24-hour-a-day chaperone.
“That monitoring will involve a two-person security team that will accompany Mr. Weinstein at all times during his travel, as well as a GPS monitoring device,” the lawyer says.
The letter includes a proposal of services that Weisberg’s firm Sage Intelligence would provide as part of his babysitting duties.
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In addition, attorneys Bruno della Ragione and Filomena Cusano provided a letter stating that it is “crucial” that Weinstein travel to Europe for the project and cite his numerous contributions to Italian cinema, including the Oscar-Winning films “Life is Beautiful” and “Il Postino.”
Defense lawyer Donna Rotunno said that Weinstein should be presumed innocent and has adhered to every single condition of his bail agreement.
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“He has been blocked from working in his industry, and when he tries to earn an honest living, is denied by the court,” the attorney said. “This exemplifies the problem with this current environment of conviction and punishment before trial, yielding to mob justice. That this is even a story is demonstrative of how low we have sank.”
This article originally appeared on Page Six.
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