Fashion Designer Kenneth Cole (married to Maria Cuomo) and Harvey Weinstein Linked in Shady amfAR Dealings
10/19/17 by Sam Reed / pix / Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic
Investigations into a transaction between Weinstein and amfAR are leading those involved to question what the AIDS organization's board chair knew about the disgraced Hollywood mogul. A second scandal involving Harvey Weinstein has come to light in the wake of the allegations of sexual harassment and assault against the disgraced producer, this one involving the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and fashion designer Kenneth Cole, who is a nonexecutive chairman of the board of the nonprofit organization. Weinstein has been a longtime supporter of amfAR, and suspicious activity between the two parties was first brought up in reports by both The New York Times and The New Yorker. However, a new story published today by The Huffington Post's Yashar Ali delves further into the specifics of the deal, which took place in spring of 2015. <> According to the report, Weinstein attempted to resolve a financial obligation to the American Repertory Theater (ART) by hosting a charity auction in Cannes with amfAR, an organization to which he had publicly lent his support to for decades, and which he had helped earn a high-profile sheen by encouraging celebrity turnout at their annual galas in Cannes.
Weinstein apparently owed $600,000 to ART for a trial production of Broadway-bound Finding Neverland, which he had produced. He had an arrangement with the theater that he and other show investors would be reimbursed for money they put into the trial provided they got third parties to donate the amounts. There was a hard deadline of June 1 for Weinstein to wire the owed $600,000 to ART or else he would not be reimbursed. Weinstein's plan, therefore, would be to split the proceeds — estimated to be around $1.2 million — from the charity event auction lots with amfAR. The plan was allegedly agreed to by Cole, even though the organization's CEO Kevin Frost had a policy against splitting revenues, and despite multiple internal protests from amfAR staff. Items up for auction included a photo shoot with Mario Testino (arranged through Weinstein's connections) and tickets to his company's Oscar party. However, the auction only netted approximately $900,000, at which time Weinstein and Cole renegotiated so that ART would receive $600,000 in full, and amfAR approximately $310,000.
Issues arose due to ART's hard deadline of June 1 for payment. Some of the bidders had not yet paid for their lots, and there was no way to guarantee they actually would — so amfAR wanted to wait until after the experiences had been fulfilled to transfer the money. To compensate, Weinstein decided to wire $600,000 of his own money via a holding company to amfAR so that they could in turn make a payment to ART.
According to internal emails from CEO Kevin Frost, Weinstein demanding reimbursement immediately left amfAR vulnerable to "material risks to its financial integrity and reputation." --snip--