A man who served as a juror on Harvey Weinstein’s criminal sexual assault trial and who bragged about ‘singlehandedly delivering’ the guilty verdict, is now accused of raping two women himself.
Steven Brecher, 55, who was the CEO of a liquor company is alleged to have drugged and raped two women.
The two women who worked for Brecher claim their assaults occurred separately but had commonalities in that they both blacked out after having drinks with him, according to details contained in a Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit, as seen by the New York Post.
The lawsuit has been filed against the company, Branca USA, a subsidiary of Milan-based spirits company Fratelli Branca, meaning Brecher has not been criminally charged himself.
Brecher was the former CEO of Branca USA.
The women claim that they were coerced into a sexual relationship with Brecher who threatened to fire each of them if the truth ever emerged, according to the legal filing.
The women claimed how Brecher would brag about his time serving on the jury for seven weeks, at Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial in February 2020.
Brecher is alleged to have told one of the victims ‘that he saw women on the subway reading about the Weinstein verdict with tears in their eyes, thinking about their own sexual abuse and that they had him to thank for singlehandedly delivering that verdict,’ court papers state.
One of the women, identified only as Jane Doe 1, 29, worked in Pennsylvania handling Branca’s marketing in the state.
The documents claim how one woman, who was engaged at the time and had just been to purchase her wedding dress when she met Brecher, went to look at bars and restaurants stocking Branca products with the then-CEO.
After visiting their third venue, she blacked out. When the awoke, she was lying naked next to Brecher in a hotel room, feeling physically sick and bleeding from her anus.
She did not report the allegation because she feared losing her job.
Two months later, a similar incident is alleged to have occurred, this time on a work trip to New York.
After a company event at which she had drinks, she decided to take a taxi back to her hotel, but Brecher managed to swoop inside the cab and headed back with her.
‘Her next memory is waking up naked and confused in his Upper East Side apartment,’ according to the filing.
The lawsuit then details how Brecher’s executive assistant became his second alleged victim.
Brecher is alleged to have invited the 27-year-old out for drinks together with the assistant from another of Branca’s executive offices.
Once the assistant left, the woman claims to have blacked out.
Brecher is alleged to have threatened her that if she were to file a complaint, the Milan headquarters would likely shut the company down.
His personal assistant is then said to have texted both women downplaying her boss’ behavior.
When the two alleged victims finally met one another, they ‘started talking and realized they had similar experiences with the CEO … especially when they learned that he had accused both of them of roofying him, when they woke up next to him with no memory of the night before,’ according to the lawsuit.
Both of the women who later resigned, are seeking unspecified damages.
Branca also eventually fired Brecher following multiple complaints from women at the company.
