Harvey Weinstein faces new charges days after emergency heart surgery

Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein faced court on new charges after narrowly surviving emergency heart surgery.

Disgraced US movie producer Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to a new sex crime charge after narrowly surviving emergency heart surgery.

Weinstein appeared in a Manhattan courtroom in a wheelchair to enter his plea of an emphatic “not guilty” to a single charge of committing criminal sexual acts.

As well as the new charge, Weinstein is also facing a retrial over his 2020 rape and sexual assault conviction, which was overturned by New York’s highest court in a landmark ruling in April.

Harvey Weinstein enters court in a wheelchair. Picture: AFP

The fallen movie producer attends a court hearing at the Manhattan Criminal Court. Picture: AFP

The 72-year-old was rushed to Bellevue Hospital from New York’s Rikers Island prison for emergency heart surgery last week.

His spokesman Juda Engelmayer told AFP that Weinstein was “weak” but “out of danger.”

Harvey Weinstein was rushed to hospital last week. Picture: AFP

The New York Times, which was first to report the new charges, quoted Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, as saying that his client “almost died.”

Weinstein is serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted on rape charges in California.

He was also convicted in New York in 2020 of the rape and sexual assault of actor Jessica Mann and of forcibly performing oral sex on a production assistant. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison in that case.

Rikers Island prison complex in New York, where Harvey Weinstein is being held. Picture: Supplied

The once-powerful film mogul has made court appearances in a wheelchair, looking frail and pale.

In 2017, the allegations against Weinstein helped launch the #MeToo movement, a watershed moment for women fighting sexual misconduct.

More than 80 women accused him of harassment, sexual assault or rape, including prominent actors Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd.

Weinstein claimed any sexual relations in question were consensual.

WEINSTEIN ‘OUT OF DANGER’

Weinstein has been recovering and is “out of danger” following emergency heart surgery, according to a representative.

Weinstein, who is being held at New York’s Rikers Island prison, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan on Sunday night after experiencing chest pains.

“He’s resting. He’s weak,” his spokesman Juda Engelmayer told AFP.

“He’s out of danger at the moment.”

It comes after Weinstein’s condition was previously reported as being critical.

“We can confirm that Mr Weinstein had a procedure and surgery on his heart today however cannot comment any further than that,” Weinstein representatives Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer said in an earlier statement, according to America’s ABC News.

“As we have extensively stated before, Mr Weinstein suffers a plethora of significant health issues that need ongoing treatment. We are grateful to the executive team at the New York City Department of Correction and Rikers Island for acting swiftly in taking him to Bellevue Hospital.”

Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court on July 19, 2024 in New York City. He has been rushed from Rikers prison to emergency heart surgery. Picture: Getty Images

The medical emergency comes as Weinstein, 72, is due in court this week in New York, where prosecutors would present evidence to a grand jury in hopes of securing a new indictment against Weinstein on sex crimes charges.

Weinstein has insisted all his sexual encounters with women were consensual.

The former film powerhouse appeared in court recently in a wheelchair, has complained of myriad health problems, and has asked to stay at Rikers where he has been undergoing medical care.

Last week, prosecutors in the United Kingdom dropped a sexual assault case against the movie mogul saying there was no “realistic prospect of conviction”.

The offences against a woman now in her fifties were alleged to have taken place in London in 1996.

Harvey Weinstein leaves the Manhattan Criminal Court as he faced sex crime charges. Picture: AFP

“Following a review of the evidence in this case, the CPS has decided to discontinue criminal proceedings against Harvey Weinstein,” said Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter-terrorism division.

“The CPS has a duty to keep all cases under continuous review and we have decided that there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.”

Weinstein was convicted in New York in 2020 of the rape and sexual assault of former actress Jessica Mann in 2013, and of forcibly performing oral sex on former production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006.

He was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

But in April New York’s highest court overturned Weinstein’s conviction on sex crime charges in a shock reversal in one of the defining cases of the #MeToo movement.

The Court of Appeals found the trial judge erred in admitting the testimony of additional women who were allegedly abused by Weinstein but who were not named in the charges brought against him, and ordered a new trial.

He could face a retrial as early as November.

– with AFP

Originally published as Harvey Weinstein faces new charges days after emergency heart surgery