Harvey Weinstein's lawyers are calling on a US judge to dismiss a lawsuit from actress Ashley Judd - who accuses the disgraced mogul of torpedoing her career - on the grounds that she had made a sexual "deal" with him.
The 50-year-old actress says the once-influential Hollywood producer sabotaged her career by convincing Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson not to cast Judd after she rejected Weinstein's sexual advances.
In a motion filed Tuesday in a Los Angeles court, Weinstein's defense team insisted Judd had struck a "deal" with Weinstein allowing him to touch her if she "won an Academy Award in one of his films."
Weinstein's attorneys claim the ex-movie mogul then "attempted to live up to his part of the bargain" by working to cast Judd in "as many roles as possible" - including opposite Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, a role for which Minnie Driver ultimately won an Oscar nomination.
In a statement responding to the filing, a spokesperson for Judd said: "Mr. Weinstein's arguments seeking to escape the consequences of his despicable misconduct are not only baseless, they are offensive."
Judd says Weinstein told director Jackson he'd had a bad experience with Judd, calling her a "nightmare."
The New Zealand filmmaker said he had no direct knowledge of sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein, but that the producer pressured him not to hire Judd or Mira Sorvino.