Weinstein built access to models, some say
LOS ANGELES - It was the kind of evening Zoe Brock was accustomed to, an intimate dinner party at an Art Deco hotel on a waterfront avenue in Cannes. The Australian model was ushered to an empty seat at a long table on a lush patio overlooking a swimming pool.
She didn't recognize the man seated next to her, but would quickly find out he was Harvey Weinstein, a brusque American producer in town for the film festival.
That first encounter of champagne and small talk would end in a much less elegant fashion hours later in a hotel room, where Weinstein stood before Brock naked and solicited a massage. She said she locked herself in a bathroom to escape him.
Still shaken by that night in 1998, Brock believes the events were set in motion by men connected to Weinstein.
"Someone put me there next to him - that was on purpose. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of people that would like to sit next to Harvey Weinstein," said Brock, 43, who was represented by a Milanese modeling agency at the time. "So why was it me?"
Weinstein, 65, is best known for his pioneering career in the independent film industry, but over the last two decades he has also carved out a significant business in fashion - executive producing the television show "Project Runway," investing in the clothing brand Halston, and backing the high-end womenswear company Marchesa, which was co-founded by his wife, former model Georgina Chapman. The foray generated a profitable TV franchise, lucrative partnerships and cachet among the global jet set.
But that success was only one of the benefits for Weinstein. In interviews with the Los Angeles Times, nearly a dozen people with ties to the industry - including models, casting directors, publicists and executives connected to "Project Runway" - said
