Harvey Weinstein's former film studio plans to liquidate in bankruptcy

(Reuters) - The film studio once run by Harvey Weinstein said it plans to liquidate in bankruptcy, as it tries to resolve civil lawsuits against former directors and officers arising from sexual misconduct claims against the onetime Hollywood mogul. Lawyers for Weinstein Co asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to convert the studio’s bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 liquidation from the Chapter 11 case filed in March 2018, according to papers filed on Tuesday night.

Several rounds of mediation over the last 10 months have failed to resolve liability claims arising from Weinstein’s alleged misconduct, the lawyers said. A hearing on the conversion request is scheduled for June 4.

Weinstein, 67, fell from grace after more than 70 women, mostly young actresses and others in the movie business, accused him of sexual misconduct dating back decades. He has denied all accusations and said any contact was consensual. Weinstein has also pleaded not guilty to criminal charges arising from his having allegedly forcibly performed oral sex on a woman in 2006 and raped another woman in 2013. A trial is scheduled for September. Weinstein’s case helped launch the #MeToo movement, where dozens of powerful men in entertainment, politics and other fields were accused of sexual misconduct. Many lost their jobs.

Lawyers for Weinstein Co said Chapter 7 was best because the company had sold nearly all its assets in a $289 million sale last July to private equity firm Lantern Capital Partners, and lacked enough liquidity to reorganize under Chapter 11. They also said liquidation was the best means to resolve claims against the former directors and officers, taking into account the interests of their insurers.

Weinstein Co’s plan to hire a law firm, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, to pursue claims it might have against the directors and officers drew two objections on Wednesday, including from New York Attorney General Letitia James. Her office said hiring a firm with no prior involvement in the case might drag out negotiations on a possible global settlement, waste time that lawyers already spent and unnecessarily deplete the debtors’ limited resources. Lawyers for Weinstein Co did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the objections.

The case is In re Weinstein Co Holdings LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 18-bk-10601.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-harvey-weinstein/harvey-weinsteins-former-film-studio-plans-to-liquidate-in-bankruptcy-idUSKCN1SL2TC?il=0

Lawmakers seek probe on U.S. hacking services sold globally

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers are pushing legislation that would force the State Department to report what it is doing to control the spread of U.S. hacking tools around the world. A bill passed in a House of Representatives’ appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday said Congress is “concerned” about the State Department’s ability to supervise U.S. companies that sell offensive cybersecurity products and know-how to other countries. The proposed legislation, released on Wednesday, would direct the State Department to report to Congress how it decides whether to approve the sale of cyber capabilities abroad and to disclose any action it has taken to punish companies for violating its policies in the past year. National security experts have grown increasingly concerned about the proliferation of U.S. hacking tools and technology.

The legislation follows a Reuters report in January which showed a U.S. defense contractor provided staff to a United Arab Emirates hacking unit called Project Raven. The UAE program utilized former U.S. intelligence operatives to target militants, human rights activists and journalists. State Department officials granted permission to the U.S. contractor, Maryland-based CyberPoint International, to assist an Emirate intelligence agency in surveillance operations, but it is unclear how much they knew about its activities in the UAE.

Under U.S. law, companies selling cyber offensive products or services to foreign governments must first obtain permission from the State Department. The new measure was added to a State Department spending bill by Dutch Ruppersberger, a Democrat from Maryland and member of the House Appropriations Committee. Ruppersberger said in an emailed statement he had been “particularly troubled by recent media reports” about the State Department’s approval process for the sale of cyberweapons and services.

CyberPoint’s Chief Executive Officer Karl Gumtow did not respond to a request for comment. He previously told Reuters that to his knowledge, CyberPoint employees never conducted hacking operations and always complied with U.S. laws. The State Department has declined to comment on CyberPoint, but said in an emailed statement on Wednesday that it is “firmly committed to the robust and smart regulation of defense articles and services export” and before granting export licenses it weighs “political, military, economic, human rights, and arms control considerations.” Robert Chesney, a national security law professor at the University of Texas, said the Reuters report raised an alarm over how Washington supervises the export of U.S. cyber capabilities.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-congress/lawmakers-seek-probe-on-u-s-hacking-services-sold-globally-idUSKCN1SL2WE?il=0