Harvey Weinstein charged with new sex crime in New York

Disgraced film producer pleads not guilty in Manhattan as his lawyers seek to overturn convictions.

Harvey Weinstein at the Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Harvey Weinstein has been charged with a new sex crime in New York, dealing a fresh blow to the movie producer’s attempts to overturn all convictions and resume his Hollywood life.

Weinstein, 72, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan criminal court on Wednesday to a first-degree charge of committing a criminal sex act. The charge involves forced oral or anal sex, and allegedly happened in a Manhattan hotel between April 29 and May 6, 2006. No detail about the accuser was provided.

Weinstein’s lawyers have spent the seven years since a New York Times expose insisting that his relations with women were consensual.

In April. they succeeded in overturning his 2020 New York conviction – citing wrongful admission of testimony by non-complainants – and are seeking to overturn his 2022 California conviction. But the New York case is being retried, with a tentative date set for November 12, and a judge is yet to rule on his California appeal, meaning he has remained in custody.

Wednesday’s charge is separate to the retrial. Weinstein, who had emergency surgery on September 9 to drain fluid around his heart and lungs, appeared frail as he was wheeled into court to hear the latest indictment.

Nicole Blumberg, the assistant district attorney, said in May her office was investigating possible new charges, adding that women who felt unable to come forward during the initial process had now changed their minds. Prosecutors said a grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults, but only one resulted in charges in the new indictment.

“Thanks to this survivor who bravely came forward, Harvey Weinstein now stands indicted for an additional alleged violent sexual assault,” Alvin Bragg, the district attorney, said. “This investigation is ongoing. If you have been sexually assaulted, I assure you our team of dedicated prosecutors, investigators, social workers and many more stand at the ready to support you.”

At the end of the 30-minute hearing, Weinstein was taken back to Bellevue hospital. He is requesting to remain in hospital rather than return to the Rikers Island prison complex. The judge scheduled a hearing on the issue for next month.

Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s lawyer, said he was taking a cocktail of 19 different medicines, which needed administering at specific times, and Rikers was failing to provide the necessary care.

The prosecution told judge Curtis Farber that they were requesting the consolidation of the retrial case and the new one, arguing that there was “significant overlap of documentary evidence” and “separate trials would be extraordinarily inefficient and overly burdensome”.

Weinstein’s legal team want the trials conducted separately. The judge said he would hear arguments from both sides on Oct­ober 2.

The prosecution also said a November trial was not feasible, suggesting the case would be pushed back significantly.

Mr Aidala said his client was seeking as swift a procedure as possible.

He said his team did not know the identity of the woman who has filed charges, noting that the alleged incident was 18 years ago.

The women who pressed charges in Weinstein’s 2020 trial – Mimi Haley and Jessica Mann – are both participating in the New York retrial.

A jury found that Weinstein sexually assaulted Haley, a production assistant, in 2006 and raped Mann, an aspiring actress, in 2013.

They are among more than 80 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.

Haley said in April she was devastated by the overturning of Weinstein’s conviction. Mann was in court in May to hear prosecutors announce the retrial.

Weinstein has also been convicted in California on rape and sexual assault charges, and was sentenced last year to 16 years in prison, to be served at the end of his 23-year New York sentence.

His lawyers in June filed an appeal, seeking to overturn the conviction.

THE TIMES