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Harvey Weinstein, Fired on Oct. 8, Resigns From Company’s Board

Over the last week and a half, more than 30 women have come forward publicly with harrowing stories of encounters with Harvey Weinstein.Credit...Charles Sykes/Invision, via Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Following allegations of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein, the movie and television studio he helped to found swiftly fired him as an employee. On Tuesday, during a meeting convened to affirm that dismissal, Mr. Weinstein resigned from the Weinstein Company’s board.

The remnants of the Weinstein Company board, including the other co-founder, Bob Weinstein, convened on Tuesday at the Manhattan offices of Debevoise & Plimpton, a law firm hired by the studio to investigate allegations made against Harvey Weinstein. At the meeting, the board “ratified its decision to terminate” his employment, according to a company spokesman.

Harvey Weinstein, who has been in Arizona, where representatives say he is seeking therapy, phoned into the two-hour meeting and resigned.

Once a top supplier of prestige-minded dramas, the Weinstein Company has been in free-fall since investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorker revealed sexual harassment and rape allegations against Harvey Weinstein going back decades. Over the last week and a half, more than 30 women have come forward publicly with harrowing stories of encounters with him. The police in New York and London have started looking into some claims against Mr. Weinstein, who has denied “any allegations of nonconsensual sex.”

Since the allegations against Mr. Weinstein first became public, most Weinstein Company board members have resigned, leaving only Tarak Ben Ammar, Lance Maerov and Bob Weinstein.

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Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer, Patricia Glaser, right, after leaving the Weinstein Company board meeting in New York on Tuesday.Credit...Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

After Harvey Weinstein was fired on Oct. 8 by his company’s board, which cited “new information about misconduct,” he hired a lawyer, Patricia Glaser, to press a wrongful termination case. It was not immediately clear whether Ms. Glaser would continue to pursue the case. Harvey Weinstein, who owns 23 percent of the company, signed an intricate three-year employment contract in 2015. His team believes that the contract offered at least some insulation from the studio’s code of conduct and that any dismissal must involve arbitration.

Ms. Glaser, who is known for representing clients like Keith Olbermann and Conan O’Brien in contract battles, did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. She attended at least part of the board meeting in person.

Bob Weinstein, who has insisted that he did not know the extent of his brother’s behavior, has been pushing to keep the studio running by renaming it and recruiting women to occupy all of the vacant board seats, according to two people briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conversations were private.

One problem with that plan: Talent agencies have made it clear that many actors, producers and writers have no interest in working either now or in the future for a studio that has become so tainted. A few stars have also expressed concerns about participating in any movie or television project that might enrich Harvey Weinstein, should he remain a part owner.

On Monday, the studio announced that it had reached a preliminary agreement with the investment firm Colony Capital for a cash infusion to stabilize operations. The amount was undisclosed. Several films are still scheduled for release, and production is underway on a cluster of television shows. The studio said the investment was also intended to “provide comfort to our critical distribution, production and talent partners around the world.”

Colony Capital, which rescued Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch from foreclosure in 2008, also entered negotiations to buy all or most of the Weinstein Company’s movie and television holdings. Thomas J. Barrack Jr., the founder of Colony Capital, said in a statement on Monday that he believed the sullied studio “has substantial value and growth potential.” A deal is expected to take three weeks or more to complete.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: Weinstein Quits Board As His Studio Affirms Firing. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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