Los Angeles, Feb 18 (IANS): Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has triggered a legal battle with his own brother. The 72-year-old producer, who is currently in jail for sex crimes and awaiting trial on further similar charges, has accused Bob Weinstein and David Glasser, the Weinstein Company's chief operating officer, tricking him into guaranteeing a $45 million loan.

The loan was guaranteed to save the business in 2016 but instead syphoned funds from the company for their own personal use before it collapsed, reports ‘Mirror.co.uk’.

His lawyer, Imran Ansari, said in a statement, "Harvey Weinstein was deceived by those closest to him and secured a $45 million loan under the pretence of saving The Weinstein Company. While Harvey personally guaranteed the loan, others within The Weinstein Company enriched themselves and strategically undermined him, leaving him 'holding the bag' of debt while 'lining their pockets' when the company was in crisis”.

As per ‘Mirror.co.uk’, the complaint is a bid to reassign blame for the collapse of the firm, after it filed for bankruptcy amid Harvey's sexual misconduct scandal, with him arguing that Bob, 70, and others were responsible for a "financial betrayal" that weakened the company and ultimately left it insolvent.

It was in a response to a long-dormant breach of contract lawsuit dating to November 2017 that was filed by Len Blavatnik’s AI International Holdings and accused the incarcerated movie mogul of failing to abide by a personal guarantee to repay the loan, a case that was put on hold when The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy in 2018.

In March 2023, AI International Holdings agreed to dismiss the case as Harvey's jail term meant they would be unlikely to collect on any judgement, but after signing the stipulation of dismissal, the former Miramax chief's lawyers backtracked and asked to keep the case open in order to pursue a separate suit against executives at the Weinstein Company.