ByGene Maddaus
Senior Media Writer
Michael Ovitz, the co-founder ofCAA, stormed out of a deposition on June 1 after being asked about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Ovitz was being questioned by a lawyer forJulia Ormond, the actress who has sued CAA for allegedly setting her up to be sexually assaulted byHarvey Weinsteinin December 1995.
Ormond’s attorneyshave been seekingto take Ovitz’s deposition for more than a year, and ultimately got a court order directing him to comply with their subpoena. According to a deposition transcript filed in the case, Ovitz showed up to testify at his attorney’s office in New York. He spoke about his relationship with Weinstein, repeatedly calling him a “bully,” but became irate when asked about Epstein.Related StoriesBBC Names Rhodri Talfan Davies Deputy Director GeneralEdward Bluemel to Play Agatha Christie Detective Hercule Poirot in New BBC and BritBox Series
“I’m not going to discuss anything about Jeffrey Epstein,” he said. “You can ask all the questions you want — you’re going to get no answers.”Popular on Variety
A few moments later, he announced, “I’m done with this,” removed his microphone, walked out of the room, slammed the door, and left the building.
Ormond’s attorneys are now seeking to have Ovitz held in contempt and that an arrest warrant be issued to ensure that he completes the deposition.
“Ovitz has no plausible defense for his contemptuous conduct,” wrote Ormond’s attorney, Meredith Firetog, in a motion for sanctions.
OrmondsuedCAA, Weinstein, Miramax and Disney under the Adult Survivors Act in New York in 2023. She alleges that CAA knew of Weinstein’s sexual misconduct and failed to warn her before sending her out to a dinner meeting with him.
She also alleges that Weinstein took her to an apartment owned by Miramax and sexually assaulted her. Disney and Miramax reached an out-of-court settlement, but CAA has continued to fight, denying that its agents did anything wrong.
Ovitz had left the agency a few months before the alleged assault, but Ormond’s attorneys wanted to question him about his knowledge of Weinstein, the operations of CAA, and the culture of harassment in the industry, which Ovitz had referenced in his memoir.
In the deposition, he said he did not get along with Weinstein.
“I didn’t like his methodology of business,” he said. “He was a bully and — and he and I got into it multiple times. I talked to him as little as possible.”
