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“Central Park Five” Prosecutor Accused Of Helping Derail Criminal Cases Against Harvey Weinstein

The embattled former sex crimes prosecutor who tried five wrongfully accused black teens in the brutal 1989 rape of the Central Park jogger was named in another suit for helping halt criminal probes into alleged serial sex predator Harvey Weinstein.

Linda Fairstein has been accused of working as a consultant for the disgraced former film mogul, arranging meetings between law enforcement and Weinstein’s legal team that may have helped the cases go away, according to a lawsuit from the former lawyers for actress Paz De La Huerta.

Tensor Law P.C. sued Weinstein and Fairstein, among others, for tortious interference in a contractual relationship and practicing law without a license, alleging that with Fairstein’s help, a criminal defense lawyer named Michael Rubin worked to thwart De La Huerta’s criminal case against Weinstein.

The former sex crimes prosecutor is believed to have used her contacts at the Manhattan DA’s office to arrange a meeting between them and Weinstein’s defense team, which ultimately led to the DA declining to pursue De La Huerta’s rape claims, according to the suit, which was obtained by BOSSIP.

The district attorney’s office began investigating the “Boardwalk Empire” actress’ claims that Weinstein raped her twice in New York City and exposed himself to her once in LA.

But Rubin mounted a campaign to “derail and destroy the case” against Weinstein by advising De La Huerta not to cooperate, fire her lawyers and give him copies of her mental health records – which he allegedly provided to Weinstein’s defense to discredit her, the suit says.

And according to court documents, Tensor Law said it was likely Fairstein who told Rubin about Weinstein and arranged for them to meet. Fairstein had allegedly previously arranged a 2015 meeting between DA staff and Weinstein’s lawyers, and those talks resulted in the DA declining to prosecute a sex assault case from model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, the suit said.

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Fairstein’s alleged conduct has come under scrutiny in the federal civil case some 30 years after she became infamous for using coerced confessions in order to prosecute the so-called “Central Park Five,” a group of black teens wrongly convicted of brutally raping jogger Trisha Meili.

Another man, Matias Reyes, later confessed to the crime, ultimately exonerating the Central Park Five, and the city of New York settled the cases against the five men for $41 million.

The lawsuit says that Weinstein retained Fairstein as a consultant, and the two had known each other for over a decade after she approached the disgraced former studio head about a film based on her career as a sex crimes prosecutor.

After retiring from the DA’s office in 2001, Fairstein enjoyed a successful career as an author. However, following the release of Netflix’s docudrama “When They See Us,” Fairstein has been vilified on social media and has resigned from the boards of Vassar College and nonprofits Safe Horizon and God’s Love We Deliver.

Last month, a judge agreed to dismiss Tensor Law’s case after Rubin filed an anti-SLAPP motion – contending that he was within his legal right to free speech to advise De La Huerta.

We’ve reached out to Fairstein for comment.

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