Washington D.C. [USA], Mar 11 : Disgraced show-biz tycoon Harvey Weinstein -- who has now been convicted for multiple counts of sexual assault and could potentially face up to 29 years in prison -- once tried to salvage his careers by pleading his powerful contemporaries to come for his rescue.
According to Variety, nearly 1,000 pages of documents disclosed by the New York court reveal that Weinstein sent emails to personalities such as Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Michael Bloomberg, Quentin Tarantino and Ted Sarandos, urging them to issue letters of support in his favour.
The mails were sent on October 8, 2017, just three days after The New York Times made the shocking revelation of Weinstein's misdeeds.
October 8 was the same day when Weinstein was ousted from The Weinstein Company.
The documents, however, didn't include any responses sent by these people.
Weinstein, according to Variety, wrote to Apple chiefs, Cook and Cue that "I don't need you to make any public statements -- just a private one to my Gmail address, saying that you support me getting therapy and the help I need before the board fires me. I'm in a tough spot. Many of the allegations are false, but I need your help with this private letter of support. I'm going to get well, and if I pass the therapist test, then we can talk about reinstatement et cetera. But for now, I'm going to take a leave of absence and get healthy. If they fire me now, it'll destroy me personally and cause a huge legal battle, based on my rights with the company. But if I have support from someone like you getting me going into treatment and having the shot at a second chance (because people deserve a second chance), it would be very helpful. I would need something today if you can -- I so appreciate it."
Similarly, he pleaded to Netflix's Ted Sarandos that "I need your friendship now," requesting him to send a letter on Netflix's behalf to his company's board of directors.
"There are many false allegations and over time, we'll prove it, but right now, I'm the poster boy for bad behaviour," Winstein wrote to Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Variety reported further.
Also, in an email to a big-time talent agent, the fallen mogul went as far as saying that "I'm desperate for your help".
( With inputs from ANI )