Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Harvey Weinstein is the co-founder of the Weinstein Company, the struggling studio that has produced very few hits over the past year, has seen a handful of senior of execs flee for the exits in recent weeks, and has been immersed in a nasty legal spat with NBC over the fate of his one big hit, Project Runway, over the past few months. (Further evidence of his financial woes: He owes Cindy Adams $10,000 and has refused to pay up.) Lev Leviev might be a less familiar name to you. He's the Ubekistan-born, Orthodox Jewish diamond and real estate billionaire who lives in Israel and controls the Africa-Israel Group, which dominates the diamond mining industry in Angola and owns a good deal of real estate, too, including the former headquarters of the New York Times. More

The Post reports that Bob and Harvey Weinstein's film company announced plans to lay off 11 percent of its staff, or 24 people, at a company meeting moments ago. The news was apparently delivered shortly after 2 p.m. But the studio would like to make it clear that this does not mean that the Weinsteins are having any financial trouble, even if they have failed to come up with a hit in ages, longtime execs are fleeing, and the company embroiled in a messy lawsuit over Project Runway. "If this was a real financial emergency for the studio, I imagine the layoffs would be greater than 24 people," a source tells the paper. [NYP]

All those rumors that the Weinstein Company is in trouble? Not true, says Bob Weinstein, who took the stage yesterday at the "Media and Money" conference hosted by Dow Jones and Nielsen and reassured the crowd that the start-up studio was doing just fine. "We're not going anywhere—not willingly, at least," he joked, later adding that the company shouldn't have any problems remaining solvent: "We're fortified with enough cash to keep this business going." If this was just spin, props to Harvey for leaving it to his younger brother to mislead the crowd. Harvey was the one originally scheduled to give the talk, but bowed out at the last minute for "personal reasons."

Harvey Weinstein has had trouble coming up with box office hits as of late (and has had to contend with speculation that his film company may not remain independent for much longer), but he's not exactly in the poor house. He's got a lavish townhouse in the Village and a massive spread in Connecticut. And he's diversified into cable channels, magazines, websites, bars, and fashion companies. Does he give back to the community? Not so much! At least not when it comes to writing checks in honor of his mother and late father, Miriam and Max, for whom his previous film company, Miramax was named (and which he sold to Disney for about $80 million in 1993). Last year, the Max Family Foundation, which is controlled by Harvey and his brother Bob, handed out $96,000. When you subtract the foundation's legal and accounting expenses, though, the Weinsteins' charitable contributions total just $64,000. Documentation after the jump!More