In 2015, the NYPD helped an Italian model record Harvey Weinstein acknowledging that he groped her, but Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance decided it wasn't sufficient evidence of a crime, according to a new report.

The New Yorker posted a 2015 audio recording of Weinstein with the model, Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, that she reportedly made with help from the NYPD. The woman went to police after she said Weinstein groped her breasts during a meeting. She then agreed to meet him wearing a wire.

According to the New Yorker, they met at Weinstein's hotel, at his invitation. On the recording, Gutierrez told him she didn't feel comfortable joining him in his room. When she said she didn't like him touching her breasts the day before, he replied, "Please I'm sorry come on in, I'm used to that." 

Both The New Yorker and The Daily Beast reported that the Manhattan DA's office looked at the evidence and declined to prosecute Weinstein. Weinstein has repeatedly denied engaging in any non-consensual behavior.

The Manhattan DA's office called the recording "horrifying." But it said it wasn't sufficient to prove a crime.

Chief Assistant Manhattan DA Karen Friedman-Agnifilo issued a statement saying, “If we could have prosecuted Harvey Weinstein for the conduct that occurred in 2015, we would have."

She said his pattern of mistreating women, as recounted in recent reports, "is disgraceful and shocks the conscience."

However, Friedman-Agnifilo noted that the NYPD arranged the meeting between the actress and Weinstein without any input from the DA's office. “The seasoned prosecutors in our Sex Crimes Unit were not afforded the opportunity before the meeting to counsel investigators on what was necessary to capture in order to prove a misdemeanor sex crime," she explained.

"While the recording is horrifying to listen to, what emerged from the audio was insufficient to prove a crime under New York law, which requires prosecutors to establish criminal intent. Subsequent investigative steps undertaken in order to establish intent were not successful. This, coupled with other proof issues, meant that there was no choice but to conclude the investigation without criminal charges.”

Civil rights lawyer Nancy Erika Smith, who represented Gretchen Carlson in her lawsuit against Fox CEO and Chairman Roger Ailes, said the tape should have led to a prosecution. "The evidence is her testimony," she explained.

"Did she complain in a timely way? We know that she did," she said. "Did she have something to gain? Absolutely not, she was taking on Harvey Weinstein. Did she get him to make some admissions on tape, absolutely! And he continued the behavior on tape."