The letter, promoted on Twitter by Ashley Judd , one of the Time's Up movement and legal defence fund founders, was in direct response to a damning story in New York Magazine which detailed how Vance and the district attorney's office actively sought to discredit model Ambra Battilana by means of intimidation after she filed a sexual assault report against Weinstein. In response, a former sergeant connected to the case told NY Mag that the the NYPD's Special Victims Division hid Battilana in a hotel under a false name because they felt the need to protect her from both Weinstein and Vance's office. Unfortunately, their efforts to keep Battilana safe fell short after the DA's sex crimes unit spoke to her without their consent. During this conversation, the unit allegedly tried to smear Battilana's character and, ultimately, frame her as an "unreliable witness."