US film and TV studio The Weinstein Company, whose ex-chairman Harvey Weinstein has been accus­ed of sexual harassment and as­sault, said it has filed for bankruptcy and was ending all non-disclosure agreements that may have silenced some women.

The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy in the Delaware court, listing $500 million to $1 billion in liabilities and $500 million to $1 billion in assets, and said it had struck a deal with an affiliate of private equity firm Lantern Capital Partners to acquire its assets.

The bankruptcy comes after the studio spent months looking for a buyer or investor. The company inked a deal with an investor group led by former Obama administration official Maria Contreras-Sweet, but the group ended its offer earlier this month after seeing that the company had more liabilities than previously disclosed.

The Weinstein Company said it had entered into a “stalking horse” agreement with a Lantern Capital affiliate, that would purchase substantially all of the assets of the company.

The offer from Lantern will set the floor for higher and better bidders in a court-supervised auction.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp had made an earlier offer for some of the company’s assets, as had Qatar-owned film company Miramax, which was founded by Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein. Both could be among potential bidders in the auction.

More than 70 women accused the company’s co-founder, Harvey Weinstein, who was one of Hollywood’s most influential men, of sexual misconduct, including rape. Weinstein has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.

“Since October, it has been reported that Harvey Weinstein used non-disclosure agreements as a secret weapon to silence his accusers. Effective immediately, those ‘agreements’ end,” the company said in an e-mailed statement.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.