Rose McGowan claims drug arrest was set up by Harvey Weinstein

Lawyers representing Rose McGowan are arguing that Harvey Weinstein was involved in setting her up over an arrest for possession of cocaine last year.

Traces of the drug were found in belongings that she left behind on a plane to Washington in January last year.

A warrant was later issued for felony possession of a controlled substance, and she was eventually arrested in November, 2017.

But papers filed in court on Tuesday, which appeal for the charge to be dismissed, pose the possibility that Weinstein could have been involved in planting the drugs, in an ‘underhanded targeting of Ms. McGowan’, according to AP.

McGowan is perhaps the most vocal among the dozens of women claiming that producer Weinstein sexually assault them.

She alleges that Weinstein raped her at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997, and was paid $100,000 in an out of court settlement following the encounter.

“There is simply no point in time at which the evidence places Ms. McGowan and the cocaine together in the same place,” read a statement from McGowan’s lawyer Jessica Carmichael.

“At all times Ms. McGowan has maintained her innocence. Unfortunately, Ms. McGowan’s situation is complicated by the Harvey Weinstein machine.

“There was an incredible lapse of time – at least over five hours – between when Ms. McGowan last possessed the wallet (which is unknown) and when it was handed to the police.

“The severity of these issues increases further, knowing that there were individuals specifically employed to target Ms. McGowan.”

It was alleged in an article in The New Yorker last year that Weinstein employed a company which used former operatives from the Israeli secret services to discredit and intimidate those making claims of sexual misconduct against him.

“It is now public knowledge that Weinstein employed underhanded tactics to ‘silence’ his victims,” Carmichael added.

“There is no evidence Ms. McGowan possessed this cocaine at all, let alone possessed it in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Therefore, this case belongs in no court, and certainly not a court in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

Read more
Pitt and DiCaprio to star in Tarantino’s Charles Manson movie
UK police investigating 10 cases against Harvey Weinstein
Six Oscar upsets that could happen