Thanks to the groundbreaking investigative reporting of Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, the world already knows how fake feminist attorney Lisa Bloom set the groundwork for a smear campaign against the victims of Harvey Weinstein. For a rate of $895 per hour, Bloom planned to run interference for Weinstein with journalists and specifically use her persona as a victim rights activist to damage his victims’ reputations back in 2016, well before the flood of sexual assault allegations against the disgraced producer went public the following year.
That Bloom made a mockery of her law degree was evident enough, but if an explosive insinuation in Ronan Farrow’s new book Catch and Kill is correct, Bloom tipped off Weinstein that the NBC News reporter investigating him was Farrow.
Although Weinstein slowly discovered that a journalist from NBC News was investigating his serial offenses, he still did not know the identity of said journalist in the spring of 2017, per Farrow’s reporting. Farrow makes ample note of his care for only speaking to sources unlikely to leak to Weinstein, and up until this point in his recollection, nearly everyone he speaks to directly either contributed information at some point or directed him to another useful point of contact.
Everyone, except for Bloom.
Following the advice of his sister Dylan Farrow, Roanan Farrow contacted Bloom for some legal input about the enforceability of nondisclosure agreements.
“I know we’re not under attorney-client privilege, but as a fellow lawyer I trust you,” Farrow told Bloom during their conversation. “If I ask you about a sensitive story, do you feel comfortable promising not to mention it to anyone until it comes out?”
After Bloom agreed and offered her analysis, she pressed Farrow to name the subject of his reporting. He then reiterated his need for her silence, and once she complied, he conceded it was Weinstein.
In the very next scene of the book, Weinstein calls up NBC boss Andy Lack to name Farrow, specifically, as the reporter investigating him.
So, we know that Bloom had already been formally retained by Weinstein in 2016, yet the following year, while she was still in a professional relationship with him, she not only failed to disclose that he was her client when discussing a matter she could have deduced was his, but also lied that she only knew “Harvey a little.”
Bloom’s behavior in the rest of the saga all but confirms she tipped off Weinstein, with her continued insistence that Farrow disclose who his sources were and lies that she could assist him indicating that she was misrepresenting herself to get a head start on shutting down Farrow’s reporting.
Later, when Farrow finally challenges Bloom for promising that she wouldn’t “tell his people,” she concedes.
“I am his people.”
Maybe Bloom won’t get disbarred as Weinstein survivor Rose McGowan demanded, but if Farrow’s account is accurate, Bloom is clearly a leading villain in this story.
