Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife Georgina Chapman in new crisis: Ugly allegations from former staff at her fashion brand as lawsuit battle rages... and she faces EVICTION

Dress designer to the stars Georgina Chapman was all smiles on the red carpet at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last month – but woes are accumulating at her fashion label Marchesa, where she is being sued by 16 employees over unpaid wages.

Further, the company's offices in Manhattan, New York, were due to be repossessed on January 22, over unpaid rent.

Chapman, the 49-year-old British girlfriend of Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, founded the label in 2004 when she was dating film producer Harvey Weinstein, whom she later married.

Naturally, business took a hit after Weinstein's #MeToo reckoning – more than 80 women made accusations against him – and he was subsequently convicted on charges of sexual assault.

But Chapman kept going and with the help of influential friends, including Vogue boss Anna Wintour, she managed to weather the storm and stay in business.

However, last year it emerged that 12 separate entities were suing the business – and things appear to have gone from bad to worse. On January 15 of this year, 16 former employees requested a jury trial to try to recover wages they say they are owed.

In legal documents, they claim that Marchesa, Georgina Chapman and her brother Edward, who also runs the company, 'engaged in a pattern and practice of delayed wage payments and non-payment in violation of the New York labor laws.'

They say the situation began at the end of July last year, only four months after Chapman, wearing Marchesa, sailed up the red carpet at the Oscars on Brody's arm, and received his used chewing gum before he made his Best Actor acceptance speech.

From that point, the lawsuit alleges that payments were 'routinely delayed by days or weeks,' if they were paid at all.

The employees include Marchesa's PR, Vice President of Operations, production manager, a number of designers, global logistics manager, couture production manager, accounts receivable manager and one design intern who had been with them since 2011.

Meanwhile, the company's landlord at 8th Avenue in Manhattan says that they are owed $1.4 million in unpaid rent and bills and was granted permission to turf them out of their four-floor space in the block.

The petition was filed in September last year and Marchesa haven't fought it – they haven't even named a lawyer in the matter.

The fashion company signed a lease in November 2019. They did not respond to the landlord's petition to evict, and so on January 7, a judgement of possession was handed down which means the landlord was able to repossess as of January 22.

Separately, a judge has also entered a notice of default on a case brought by a finance company called EN OD Capital, which claimed in October last year that Marchesa had not paid back a loan of $220,000 backed up by $303,600 of future sales.

A judge has also entered a default against Marchesa on behalf of DHL, the postal service, which claimed it was owed $12,704 in unpaid postage.

Chapman and Brody met through mutual friend supermodel Helena Christensen in 2019, and now live together in a massive property in New York State with her two children by Weinstein. She was at Brody's side - wearing Marchesa, naturally - at the Oscars last March when he took home his second gong for his performance in The Brutalist.

On stage he said: 'I share this with my amazing partner Georgina, who has not only reinvigorated my own self-worth, but my sense of value and my values.'

It was reported that Georgina got $15million in her divorce settlement from Weinstein, but that's nowhere near enough to bankroll a fashion business.

Respected fashion journalist Lauren Sherman, who writes for the online newsletter Puck, said last year: 'How Marchesa was financed was always a bit of a mystery... Weinstein denied that he was funnelling money to the business, especially toward the end. But the question persists: Who is paying for Marchesa?

'Any operation that produces $5,000, $6,000, and $7,000 gowns for retailers - on top of creating custom pieces for private clients - needs a lot of cash.' 

She added: 'Like many fashion brands built on a certain type of vanity, [Marchesa] had mounting debts and a lack of purpose.'

Georgina, who grew up in Wimbledon, South West London and went to Marlborough College, the Princess of Wales' alma mater, initially started out as an actress, but then founded the label Marchesa with a friend after she met Weinstein.

Cate Blanchett wore a Marchesa mini to the Rome premiere of the Miramax film The Aviator in 2004, while Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Diane Kruger have also graced the red carpet in the gowns.

Indeed, the label was named Red Carpet Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2007.

But this success came to a halt in 2017 when the New York Times published its exposé accusing Weinstein of paying off sexual harassment accusers for decades.

Chapman canceled her fashion show and released a statement which ran: 'My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions. I have chosen to leave my husband.'

In the immediate aftermath, things looked bleak. #BoycottMarchesa began trending on Twitter. A New York fashion publicist was quoted as saying: 'No star is ever going to want to wear the brand again.'

Georgina retreated to London with the children.

In 2018 she gave an interview to Vogue and said: 'There was a part of me that was terribly naive - clearly, so naive. I have moments of rage, I have moments of confusion, I have moments of disbelief. And I have moments when I just cry for my children. What are their lives going to be? What are people going to say to them? It's like, they love their dad. They love him. I just can't bear it for them.'

She went on to say she 'never knew'. 'That's what makes this so incredibly painful: I had what I thought was a very happy marriage. I loved my life.'

A few months later, Vogue ran a piece asking if it was time to start wearing Marchesa again and soon after, Dame Anna herself told The Late Show: 'Georgina is a brilliant designer and I don't think she should be blamed for her husband's behaviour.'

Georgina returned to live in upstate New York and until last year produced four collections a year, all unveiled online.

Although the company did not post sales or profit figures, her people claimed that the business was 'doing well' and Marchesa's annual revenue was estimated at $38.5 million.

In an interview with Vogue, she said of Adrien Brody: 'Anything that comes into his life gets held. It's painful, good and bad, but he's able to draw on this enormous universe inside him. He's very sensitive, he has a thin veil emotionally with the world.'