Michael Ovitz, the co-founder of CAA, stormed out of a deposition on June 1 after being requested about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Ovitz was being questioned by a lawyer for Julia Ormond, the actress who has sued CAA for allegedly setting her as much as be sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein in December 1995.
Ormond’s attorneys have been seeking to take Ovitz’s deposition for greater than a yr, and in the end received a courtroom order directing him to adjust to their subpoena. In keeping with a deposition transcript filed within the case, Ovitz confirmed as much as testify at his lawyer’s workplace in New York. He spoke about his relationship with Weinstein, repeatedly calling him a “bully,” however grew to become irate when requested about Epstein.
“I’m not going to discuss anything about Jeffrey Epstein,” he mentioned. “You can ask all the questions you want — you’re going to get no answers.”
Just a few moments later, he introduced, “I’m done with this,” eliminated his microphone, walked out of the room, slammed the door, and left the constructing.
Ormond’s attorneys at the moment are in search of to have Ovitz held in contempt and that an arrest warrant be issued to make sure that he completes the deposition.
“Ovitz has no plausible defense for his contemptuous conduct,” wrote Ormond’s lawyer, Meredith Firetog, in a movement for sanctions.
Ormond sued CAA, Weinstein, Miramax and Disney beneath the Grownup Survivors Act in New York in 2023. She alleges that CAA knew of Weinstein’s sexual misconduct and did not warn her earlier than sending her out to a dinner assembly with him.
She additionally alleges that Weinstein took her to an residence owned by Miramax and sexually assaulted her. Disney and Miramax reached an out-of-court settlement, however CAA has continued to struggle, denying that its brokers did something mistaken.
Ovitz had left the company a couple of months earlier than the alleged assault, however Ormond’s attorneys needed to query him about his data of Weinstein, the operations of CAA, and the tradition of harassment within the business, which Ovitz had referenced in his memoir.
Within the deposition, he mentioned he didn’t get together with Weinstein.
“I didn’t like his methodology of business,” he mentioned. “He was a bully and — and he and I got into it multiple times. I talked to him as little as possible.”
However he mentioned that he was unaware of sexual misconduct allegations towards Weinstein till they grew to become public in 2017.
He was later requested what he would have executed if he came upon that Weinstein had sexually assaulted somebody, and answered that “We surely wouldn’t have done business with the person.”
Ormond’s lawyer, Kevin Mintzer, then requested if he was pleasant with Epstein.
After initially saying “no,” Ovitz requested, “What’s your definition of ‘friendly’?” He acknowledged that he had as soon as gone to Epstein’s home “for 20 minutes at the recommendation of the JP Morgan Bank.”
Ovitz was then requested if he had ever visited with him at St. Barts.
“What does this got to do with Harvey Weinstein?” Ovitz requested.
Mintzer tried to comply with up by asking if Ovitz was conscious that Epstein had been convicted of intercourse crimes, at which level Ovitz walked out, about 45 minutes right into a three-hour deposition.
Emails between Epstein and Ovitz have been included within the huge trove of Epstein materials launched by the Justice Division earlier this yr. In a single electronic mail from 2012, Ovitz wrote, “I would love to see you.” In one other, Ovitz instructed Epstein that he was trying ahead to seeing him at St. Barts. And in a 3rd, he instructed Epstein that he was with one other get together and “we both are raving about you.”
After Ovitz walked out, CAA’s lawyer objected that they’d not been notified that there could be questions on Epstein.
Ormond’s lawyer argued that Ovitz had proven contempt for the proceedings all through, and had initially mentioned “no” when requested if his testimony could be truthful, earlier than saying “yes.”
