Weinstein, the movie mogul who became the symbol of the #MeToo movement after dozens of women accused him of sexual misconduct, has hired Jose Baez, Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., Duncan Levin and Pamela Robillard Mackey to his defense team, the person said.
The four will replace Benjamin A. Brafman, the Manhattan defense lawyer with whom Weinstein parted ways last week.
“I am pleased to confirm that I along with Jose Baez have been retained by Harvey Weinstein,” Sullivan said in a statement. “Mr. Weinstein steadfastly maintains his innocence in this matter and we are looking forward to assisting Mr. Weinstein in his defense.”
Baez and Sullivan will serve as Weinstein’s lead co-counsels, according to a second person with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Neither lawyer is based in New York City.
It is possible that additional lawyers could be added to the team, the person said.
Levin is a former federal prosecutor and a former chief assistant to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. He will provide strategic advice to the other three lawyers on the team, who have little experience with New York law or Vance’s office, the person said.
Weinstein began to make calls to other lawyers last month after a judge rejected Brafman’s argument that the case against Weinstein should be dismissed. Since then, he has pursued a plan to follow the template set out by O.J. Simpson in his murder trial in 1995, assembling a group with a variety of specialties.
With his new team, Weinstein has a set of lawyers with experience in high-profile cases.
Baez, a lawyer based in Florida, represented Casey Anthony, who was acquitted in 2011 of charges that she murdered her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.
He also worked with Sullivan, a professor at Harvard Law School, to defend football player Aaron Hernandez, who was acquitted in a double murder trial in Massachusetts in 2017 and later committed suicide. (Neither Baez nor Sullivan represented Hernandez in his murder trial in 2015, when he was found guilty in a conviction that was later nullified.)
Baez and Sullivan also represented actress Rose McGowan when she faced drug possession charges in Virginia. She eventually pleaded no contest.
Coincidentally, McGowan is an outspoken critic of Weinstein and was one of the first women to come forward publicly about his history of sexual misconduct.
By hiring Mackey, who works for a Denver-based law firm, Weinstein will add a prominent female lawyer to his legal team. Mackey also has experience in sexual assault cases. She represented former basketball player Kobe Bryant when he was accused of raping a 19-year-old woman in 2013 in Colorado.
Bryant said at the time that Bryant viewed their encounter as consensual, and the case was dropped after the woman said she would not testify.
Mackey, who is out of the country, could not be reached immediately for comment.
Weinstein, 66, faces five charges in Manhattan stemming from allegations that he raped one woman and performed oral sex on another against her will. The charges include two counts of predatory sexual assault, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. His trial is scheduled to begin in May.
Weinstein has denied the allegations and has said the relationships were consensual.
The New York Post first reported Weinstein’s new team.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.