Harvey Weinstein indicted on additional sex crimes charges

Harvey Weinstein indicted on additional sex crimes charges ahead of New York retrial

Harvey Weinstein wears a suit while appearing in court seated in a wheelchair

By Michael R. Sisak

Sept. 12, 2024 8:07 AM PT

NEW YORK — Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on additional sex crimes charges ahead of his retrial in New York, Manhattan prosecutors said at a hearing Thursday.

The indictment will remain under seal until Weinstein’s arraignment on the new charges, which is scheduled for Sept. 18.

Weinstein, 72, was recovering from emergency surgery Monday at a Manhattan hospital to remove fluid around his heart and lungs and was not at Thursday’s hearing.

Prosecutors retrying Weinstein’s overturned rape conviction disclosed last week that they had begun presenting to a grand jury evidence of up to three additional allegations against Weinstein, dating back as far as the mid-2000s.

They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.

Because the indictment is under seal, it was not known whether the new charges involved some or all of the additional allegations.

Prosecutors had been seeking to retry Weinstein after New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges earlier this year and ordered a new trial.

It remains to be seen whether the new charges will be included in the retrial, as prosecutors hope, or handled as a separate case by the court.

The new charges come after prosecutors in Britain announced last week that they would no longer pursue charges of indecent assault against Weinstein, who was the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movement in 2017 when women began going public with accounts of his behavior.

Weinstein, who co-founded the film and television production company Miramax, has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.

At Thursday’s hearing, Judge Curtis Farber ruled that because of Weinstein’s health concerns, he will be allowed to remain at Bellevue Hospital indefinitely instead of being moved back to the city’s Rikers Island jail complex.

Manhattan Dist. Atty. Alvin Bragg’s office had signaled for months that new charges were imminent against Weinstein, who was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, having produced films such as “Pulp Fiction” and “The Crying Game.”

In July, prosecutors told a judge they were actively pursuing claims of rape that occurred in Manhattan within the statute of limitations.

They said some potential accusers who were not ready to come forward during Weinstein’s first New York trial had indicated they were now willing to testify.

New York’s highest court threw out Weinstein’s 2020 conviction in April after determining the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case.

Prosecutors have said one of the accusers in that case, Jessica Mann, is prepared to testify against him again. It’s unclear if the second accuser, Mimi Haley, would participate. Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, declined to comment.

The Times does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley and Mann have.

Weinstein, who had been serving a 23-year sentence in New York when his conviction was quashed, was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape.

His 16-year prison sentence in that case still stands, but his lawyers appealed in June, arguing he did not get a fair trial in Los Angeles. Weinstein has remained in custody in New York while awaiting the retrial.

Sisak writes for the Associated Press.