Harvey Weinstein sues brother for fraud
Harvey Weinstein is suing his brother and former Weinstein Company co-founder Bob Weinstein for fraud, along with ex-company executives David Glasser and Irwin Reiter.
unbranded – Entertainment
Harvey Weinstein’s retrial on rape and sexual assault charges is set to begin Wednesday with opening statements.
The retrial comes before a Manhattan jury a year after New York’s highest state appeals court overturned the disgraced movie mogul’s conviction.
Weinstein, 73, faces one rape count and two criminal sexual act counts. The Oscar winner, once one of Hollywood’s most powerful producers, has pleaded not guilty and denied ever assaulting anyone or having nonconsensual sex.
At the center of the retrial are three women, with two alleging that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on them in 2006 and another who claims he raped her in 2013. The retrial began in New York court April 15 with jury selection.
The legal redo, a proceeding that will largely mimic Weinstein’s original state trial, is expected to last roughly six weeks. Weinstein, who is experiencing a variety of health problems, has been brought into the courtroom as of late in a wheelchair.
His original trial conviction was a capstone moment for the #MeToo movement, which saw women in the entertainment industry emerge with claims of sexual misconduct perpetrated by powerful men in media, politics and other spheres.
Harvey Weinstein trial expected to last 6 weeks
The new trial before Superior Court justice Curtis Farber is expected to last roughly six weeks. All 12 jurors must vote unanimously to convict Weinstein.
A New York jury found Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault in 2020, and he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. A state appeals court threw out the conviction in April 2024 and ordered a new trial, finding that women who accused Weinstein of assaults that were not part of the charges against him should not have been allowed to testify.
More than 100 women, including famous actresses, accused Weinstein of misconduct, and the allegations against him were a focal point of #MeToo. Since the #MeToo movement snowballed in 2017 with sexual assault allegations against the “Shakespeare in Love” producer, Weinstein has repeatedly denied all claims that he engaged in nonconsensual sex acts.
Harvey Weinstein health issues
In September, Weinstein was rushed to a hospital and underwent emergency heart surgery. The episode was one of several health scares while he was held in New York City’s Rikers Island jail, where his representatives have said he was receiving inadequate medical care.
In the months leading up to his retrial, the Miramax co-founder, who has yet to serve a 16-year prison sentence stemming from his 2022 California rape conviction, urged a judge in New York to start his trial sooner citing his health concerns.
Is Weinstein still in jail?
Weinstein is not currently in jail. Weinstein scored a win last week with a judge ruling in his favor after transferring in and out of the hospital several times while serving his jail sentence.
A New York judge on April 17 ruled Weinstein can be transferred from Rikers Island to Bellevue Hospital’s prison ward in Manhattan as his retrial moves forward in criminal court. In a statement to USA TODAY on Friday, Weinstein’s lawyer Imran H. Ansari addressed the news.
“Harvey Weinstein is pleased with the Court’s Order directing the City to transfer him from Rikers Island to Bellevue Hospital so he can receive the medical treatment he needs as he begins his trial. It is without question that Rikers Island is the prime example of a deficient and dangerous prison,” Ansari said in the statement.
His lawyers added: “Mr. Weinstein has suffered tremendously within its walls and no human in his medical condition, no matter what they are accused of, should be treated so inhumanely and without any regard to the protections of our Constitution.”
Contributing: Jack Queen, Reuters
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