Disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on extra intercourse crime costs forward of his retrial in New York, Manhattan prosecutors stated at a listening to Thursday.
The indictment will stay sealed till Weinstein’s arraignment on the brand new costs, scheduled for Sept. 18.
Weinstein, 72, is recovering from emergency coronary heart surgical procedure carried out Monday at a Manhattan hospital to take away fluid from his coronary heart and lungs and was not current at Thursday’s listening to.
Prosecutors retrying Weinstein’s overturned rape conviction revealed final week that that they had begun presenting to a grand jury proof of as many as three extra allegations in opposition to Weinstein, courting again to the mid-2000s.
They embrace alleged sexual assaults on the Tribeca Grand Resort, now referred to as the Roxy Resort, and at a residential constructing in Decrease Manhattan between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca lodge in Might 2016.
As a result of the indictment is sealed, it’s not identified whether or not the brand new costs concerned some or all the extra allegations.
Prosecutors had been looking for to retry Weinstein after New York’s highest court docket, the Court docket of Appeals, overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault costs earlier this 12 months and ordered a brand new trial.
It stays to be seen whether or not the brand new costs can be included within the retrial, as prosecutors hope, or whether or not the court docket will deal with them as a separate case.
The brand new costs come after prosecutors in Britain introduced final week that they might not pursue indecent assault costs in opposition to Weinstein, who was probably the most distinguished villain of the #MeToo motion in 2017 when girls started going public with accounts of his habits.
Weinstein, co-founder of the movie and tv manufacturing firm Miramax, has lengthy maintained that any sexual exercise was consensual.
At Thursday’s listening to, Decide Curtis Farber dominated that due to Weinstein’s well being issues, he can be allowed to stay at Bellevue Hospital indefinitely reasonably than being transferred again to town’s Rikers Island jail advanced.
Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg’s workplace had signaled for months that new costs have been imminent in opposition to Weinstein, as soon as one of the crucial highly effective individuals in Hollywood, having produced movies together with “Pulp Fiction” and “The Crying Sport.”
In July, prosecutors advised a choose they have been actively pursuing allegations of rape in Manhattan inside the statute of limitations.
They stated some potential accusers who weren’t prepared to come back ahead throughout Weinstein’s first trial in New York had indicated they have been now keen to testify.
New York’s highest court docket in April overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction after ruling that the trial choose unfairly allowed testimony in opposition to him primarily based on allegations from different girls who weren’t a part of the case.
Prosecutors have stated one of many accusers in that case, Jessica Mann, is keen to testify in opposition to him once more. It’s unclear whether or not the second accuser, Mimi Haley, will take part. Her legal professional, Gloria Allred, declined to remark.
The Related Press typically doesn’t determine individuals who report sexual assault except they consent to be recognized, as Haley and Mann did.
Weinstein, who was serving a 23-year sentence in New York when his conviction was overturned, was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of one other rape.
His 16-year jail sentence in that case stays in impact, however his legal professionals appealed in June, arguing that he didn’t obtain a good trial in Los Angeles. Weinstein has remained detained on the Rikers Island jail advanced in New York whereas awaiting the brand new trial.