An Israeli firm of private investigators, who helped disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein cover up allegations of sexual misconduct, has apologised for doing so.
“If we had known this from the beginning, God forbid we wouldn’t have taken the job,’’ Asher Tishler, a board member at Black Cube in Tel Aviv, was quoted by the Times of Israel as saying in a article published on Friday. “I apologise for taking the job.’’
“When we took the job we had no idea this was going on,’’ Tishler said, pledging to donate Weinstein’s 1.3 million-dollar fee to women’s groups.
Tishler was interviewed by Hadashot television channel, previously known as Channel 2.
Earlier in the week, The New Yorker magazine reported that a Black Cube employee posed as a women’s rights advocate to meet the actress Rose McGowan, who has since accused Weinstein of raping her, to obtain information from her.
The article said the woman secretly recorded at least four of the meetings.
The same employee is also believed to have duped journalists into telling her which women were going to go public with their allegations.
Dozens of women have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment or assault against Weinstein since the first accusations were made public at the beginning of October.
Police in Los Angeles and London have launched investigations.
Weinstein has repeatedly denied the allegations and said that nothing non-consensual took place.