Harvey Weinstein sued over alleged scheme to get Paz De La Huerta claims dropped

A lawyer who represented actress Paz de la Huerta has filed a lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein and a former New York prosecutor.

It alleges they worked together in a scheme to get the actress to drop her sexual misconduct complaint against the movie mogul.

Aaron Filler’s firm, Tensor Law, filed the case on Friday against Weinstein, his company and lawyer Michael Rubin.

Mr Filler says in the suit that Mr Rubin persuaded Ms de la Huerta to drop Mr Filler as her lawyer and encouraged her to drop the complaint alleging Weinstein raped her.

He claims Mr Rubin misrepresented himself to Ms de la Huerta as a victims’ rights advocate but was acting for the benefit of Weinstein "to interfere by a series of harmful subterfuges, threats and extortion demands, entirely outside the legitimate strictures of the legal system".

Mr Rubin said the allegations are false and Mr Filler is upset he lost a client.

"I never met Harvey Weinstein in my life," he said.

Mr Rubin said his intentions in contacting the actress were to help Ms de la Huerta get Weinstein arrested.

Weinstein spokeswoman Holly Baird said it is "insanity" to suggest that Weinstein "had any involvement".

AP