For Weinstein, a Brush With the Police, Then No Charges
“Calling Ms. Bashford to tell her who Elkan was and to ask her to consider meeting with him is the kind of thing I do four
to six times every year,” said Ms. Fairstein, who said she had determined Ms. Battilana’s complaint was unfounded.
It also highlights the challenges such cases pose, even for the vaunted Manhattan
district attorney’s office, made famous by the television show “Law & Order.”
Little of what happened in the case emerged before this month, when reported claims of rampant sexual harassment
and unwanted touching by Mr. Weinstein, and The New Yorker reported sexual assault allegations — as well as the audio recording of the hotel encounter with Ms. Battilana.
Prosecutors concluded Ms. Battilana would have been a problematic witness
because she had given them shifting accounts of her previous sexual assault complaint in Italy, three officials familiar with the investigation said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a closed case.
In the case of Mr. Weinstein, police recording equipment had failed,
but Ms. Battilana had captured the entire conversation on her telephone, including his admission that he had grabbed her breasts, investigators said.