The Harvey Weinstein sex scandal has created roles for dozens of lawyers, although some of them have quickly withdrawn from the spotlight, while others have remained in the background.

Nearly a year before news organizations began reporting about Weinstein's alleged predatory behavior with women, plaintiffs lawyer Thomas Ajamie began to hear about similar claims involving the movie mogul, he told The American Lawyer in an extensive interview. Ajamie heard those allegations in the wake of his investigation about Weinstein's dealings with The Foundation for AIDS Research, a New York-based nonprofit that uses the acronym amfAR.

Ajamie's account, which is corroborated in part by emails and a letter sent by another prominent lawyer representing four dissenting board members at amfAR to the New York State Attorney General's office, reveals how some legal heavy-hitters sought to stop the Houston-based trial lawyer from asking questions about Weinstein.

The amfAR-related battles between Ajamie and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Orin Snyder in New York include an eyebrow-raising cameo by Lisa Bloom, a well-known women's rights advocate and litigator who recently stepped aside as Weinstein's so-called feminist adviser.

Bloom, who spoke with The American Lawyer earlier this month, declined to comment for this story. Famous fashion designer Kenneth Cole, chairman of amfAR's board and the brother-in-law of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, did not return a request for an interview. A spokesman did provide a lengthy statement on Cole's behalf to The American Lawyer claiming that the clothing kingpin did nothing wrong.

Snyder, who was tapped by amfAR's board to review Ajamie's work looking into Weinstein's ties to the organization, agreed to multiple interviews for this story. Snyder objected to what he views as the conflation of the tabloid-selling Weinstein sex scandal stories with previous concerns that he raised about Ajamie's own actions after the Texas litigator completed his assignment for the charity's board.

“[I]t is shameful that a handful of people are seeking to exploit the Harvey Weinstein scandal in an effort to smear amfAR, harming its ability to fulfill its lifesaving mission,” Snyder said in a written statement to The American Lawyer.

David Boies

Boies Schiller Flexner chairman David Boies, a longtime legal adviser to Weinstein, spoke at length for this story. He confirmed that the well-known film producer was concerned about Ajamie's activities, but did not entirely agree with either Ajamie or Snyder about their characterizations of the events that had both lawyer at loggerheads.

An Internal Probe and Dueling Lawyers

In March 2016, Ajamie entered Weinstein's world when amfAR trustees tapped him to conduct an investigation into transactions between the nonprofit and Weinstein. The probe involved $600,000 raised at a May 2015 auction in Cannes on the French Riviera from a pair of fundraising packages arranged by Weinstein. The Financial Times broke the news of the amfAR matter in late September, two weeks before The New York Times came out with the first in a series of stories detailing decades of alleged misconduct by Weinstein.

The Huffington Post, The Boston Globe and NBC News had extensive looks this week into the complicated series of transactions between amfAR and Weinstein, who has long championed the nonprofit's cause in raising millions for AIDS research. The organization also made headlines this week after late night comic James Corden apologized for jokes he made about Weinstein and his alleged victims while hosting an amfAR gala in Los Angeles.

This story will focus on the actions of various lawyers caught up in the amfAR affair, which began in 2015 when Weinstein insisted that the $600,000 raised from the Cannes auction go to the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based American Repertory Theatre (ART), a nonprofit at Harvard University. Ajamie, a former Baker Botts partner who left the Am Law 100 firm two decades ago to set up his own shop, was asked by amfAR to investigate why Weinstein had urgently insisted that it split the proceeds from the Cannes auction with ART by June 1, 2015.

Ajamie, profiled by The American Lawyer in 2010 for his work winning a $112 million RICO claim on behalf of security company ADT Corp., has several notable cases and assignments on his resume. Six months after being hired by amfAR to look into the ART matter, Ajamie presented his findings in a nine-page letter with attached exhibits on Sept. 20, 2016. Weinstein had refused to answer his questions about the 2015 transactions, Ajamie wrote.

“We must infer from Mr. Weinstein's stonewalling that the transaction was indeed illegitimate in some way,” added Ajamie, who also singled out unfavorably the actions of Cole, head of amfAR's board. “Mr. Cole never asked Mr. Weinstein why the transaction had to be done this way or what the purpose of the transaction was. He stated in an interview that he thought it was better not to ask questions. He also stated that, 'We often give into Harvey but we haven't comprised our integrity.'”

Ajamie, who said the charity's board agreed to reimburse him for roughly $40,000 in expenses incurred as part of his inquiry, encouraged amfAR's board to continue its investigation of Weinstein.

A few weeks after Ajamie issued his report, the actress Rose McGowan tweeted on Oct. 12, 2016, about an anonymous film producer whom she alleged raped her. (McGowan confirmed last week that the unnamed individual she was tweeting about is Weinstein, who the Times reported reached a $100,000 settlement with her in 1997.) While compiling his report for amfAR's board, Ajamie said he started hearing allegations about Weinstein's conduct with various women, although the lawyer acknowledged to The American Lawyer that investigating such claims was not part of his mandate.

“I'm not investigating [sexual assault],” Ajamie recalled in an interview. “People are calling me.”

Thomas Ajamie

By mid-October 2016, after he had filed his report for amfAR and was no longer retained by the charity, Ajamie spoke with Barry Avrich, a filmmaker who in 2010, long before the allegations about Weinstein and women surfaced publicly, made a documentary about the film producer. Avrich followed up that film with a book called “Moguls, Monsters and Madmen: An Uncensored Life in Show Business.”

According to an excerpt of that book last year by The Hollywood Reporter, Avrich alleged that Weinstein attempted to assert control—and ultimately succeeded, in part—over his documentary, his edits and the film's limited release. Despite their tense history, Avrich and Weinstein kept in touch, although Avrich wrote that when he asked Weinstein for permission to show one of his movies at a 2015 film festival, the movie mogul said he would “need a favor in return.”

Ajamie said that he cannot remember if he called Avrich or vice versa. The Huffington Post reported this week that Ajamie emailed Avrich. Either way, when Ajamie and Avrich spoke, the filmmaker already knew that Ajamie had investigated Weinstein's amfAR transactions, Ajamie told The American Lawyer. Ajamie added he was surprised that Avrich knew, and he therefore became intentionally vague about which client he was calling about. Ajamie said that he chose not to disabuse Avrich of his impression that he continued to represent amfAR at that point, even though he was no longer officially advising the charity.

Ajamie told The American Lawyer that he asked Avrich if he would be willing to discuss any allegations made by women against Weinstein. Avrich told Ajamie he was “receptive” to the idea, but ultimately never called him back, Ajamie recalled.

Avrich, who is currently working on a Holocaust documentary with The Weinstein Co., did not return a request for comment as to whether he called Weinstein to inform him about the contents of his phone call with Ajamie. But on Oct. 14, 2016, one day after Ajamie and Avrich connected, Ajamie said he received a voicemail message from David Boies.

Ajamie said he didn't return Boies' call because he had already submitted his report to amfAR and wasn't expected to continue his investigation. Had Boies called Ajamie before he submitted his amfAR report, the Houston lawyer said he would have returned the call as a possible avenue to reach Weinstein for his investigation.

Boies recalled the circumstances surrounding his call to Ajamie somewhat differently.

“I asked him to talk to me about what he wanted—and Ajamie refused to do that,” said Boies, whose has long handled work for various Weinstein-related entities.

CNN reported this week that Boies appeared to have stepped back from his work on behalf of Weinstein. In an Oct. 18 email to The American Lawyer, Boies said that he couldn't comment as to the nature of his representation, “except to refer you to public reports.”

Gibson Dunn Joins the Fray

In October 2016, the amfAR board hired Gibson Dunn's Orin Snyder to advise it on Ajamie's investigation and other governance issues. For its work, Snyder said his firm was ultimately paid $450,000, about a 50 percent discount from Gibson Dunn's usual rates for such matters.

“Gibson Dunn agreed on its own initiative to offer its services on a partial pro bono basis,” Snyder said. “We thought that was an appropriate gesture given the charitable nature of the organization's mission.”

A former federal prosecutor, Snyder has a stable of high-profile clients, including well-known nonprofits like The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc.; Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation; Intrepid Museum Foundation Inc., Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Inc.; and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Inc. Snyder is also no stranger to the New York Attorney General's office (NYAG), having served on Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's transition team and advocated before the regulator on behalf of clients like Facebook Inc., the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. and Warner Music Group Corp.

But by January 2017, four dissenting amfAR board members would express concerns about the exact nature of Gibson Dunn's role for the nonprofit. The four individuals hired John Moscow, a white-collar litigation partner at Baker & Hostetler in New York, to represent them. On April 12, Moscow wrote to Schneiderman's office, attached a timeline of relevant events and asked the state agency to “use the powers of your office to correct the situation.”

Moscow's letter to Schneiderman's office states that at an amfAR board meeting on Oct. 17, 2016, amfAR board chairman Cole told its members that he had received a call from Weinstein. Cole reported to the board that Weinstein had told him that Ajamie had sent him a letter detailing allegations against the film producer, according to Moscow's letter. Ajamie said he never sent a letter to Weinstein and Moscow wrote that no such missive from Ajamie was ever found.

At the same board meeting, Cole proposed that amfAR hire Gibson Dunn's Snyder to review Ajamie's work and advise the charity on governance issues, according to Moscow's timeline. Prior to that meeting, Weinstein telephoned an unidentified amfAR board member in an attempt to make sure that the charity retained Gibson Dunn, according to Moscow's timeline and another board member who declined to be named.

In Moscow's letter to Schneiderman's office, he wrote that Gibson Dunn had previously represented Weinstein. But Snyder said that his firm only briefly advised Weinstein in an unrelated matter, long before amfAR became his client. Snyder also said he disclosed that previous engagement to Donald Capoccia, an amfAR board member, before he was hired by the charity. Snyder said his own introduction to Weinstein came in 2008 when he represented media giant NBCUniversal in litigation against The Weinstein Co. over its right of refusal to broadcast hit cable reality show “Project Runway.”