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The one-time lead investigator in the New York sex-assault probe of Harvey Weinstein once told an accuser to delete personal cell phone files to hide it from prosecutors, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office revealed on Wednesday.
One of the two accusers with cases still standing against Weinstein said she once worried about turning over cell phones to prosecutors because the devices might have personal information she didn’t want to be shared, according to a letter prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon wrote to Weinstein’s lawyer Ben Brafman.
NYPD Det. Nicholas DiGaudio told the victim to simply delete files before surrendering phones, prosecutors said.
“According to Complainant 2, Detective DiGaudio’s response was that Complainant 2 should delete anything she did not want anyone to see before providing the phones to our office,” Illuzzi-Orbon wrote. “According to Complainant 2, Detective DiGaudio then added, `we just won’t tell Joan.’ “
Despite that advice, the woman still turned over all phones she was using at times she had communications with Weinstein. The phones were surrendered “without any deletions,” according to Illuzzi-Orbon.
The woman “indicates that at no time did Detective DiGaudio or anyone else influence her testimony on any evidence she produced,” the prosecutor wrote.
The disgraced movie executive is accused of sexual assault in a five-count indictment alleging that he raped one woman in his Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and forced a sex act on another woman in 2006.
The embarrassing revelations come one week after prosecutors dropped one of the six charges against Weinstein. Illuzzi-Orbon admitted that DiGaudio coached a witness who appeared to have memories counter to victim Lucia Evans.
The one charge relating to Evans’ allegations was dropped last week.