Log in

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

Posted 9/12/24

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 …

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor

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

Posted

NEW YORK (AP) — 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, is recovering from emergency heart surgery Monday at a Manhattan hospital to remove fluid on 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 as far back 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 District Attorney 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 Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley and Mann did.

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’s Rikers Island jail complex while awaiting the retrial.