Lisa Bloom is a California-based attorney and self-proclaimed feminist advocate who served on Harvey Weinstein’s legal team, which sought to silence his victims, derail Kantor and Twohey’s reporting, and salvage Weinstein’s reputation. Nevertheless, a 2017 W magazine article portrayed Bloom as a defender of women’s rights and an advocate for sexual harassment victims, helping them net hundreds of thousands of dollars via settlement agreements. In 2013 she claimed to represent victims whom Donald Trump had raped at a party hosted by notorious sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein; she arranged a press conference at which an alleged victim would speak and then failed to produce the witness. When Twohey asked if she had ever met with the woman, Bloom failed to respond. Kantor and Twohey were henceforth suspicious of Bloom and questioned her ethics and ties to Weinstein.

In a 2016 email obtained by Kantor and Twohey, Bloom laid out a plan to target and silence Rose McGowan while launching a campaign of positive reputation management that would portray Weinstein as a changed man. She also worked with Weinstein’s production company to have a book she authored made into a film—a clear conflict of interest.

Once the Times published the 2017 articles detailing Weinstein’s years of assault and harassment, Bloom claimed that she regretted her actions, that Weinstein had duped her, and that representing him had been a mistake.