A look at Harvey Weinstein’s health and legal issues as he faces more criminal charges
NEW YORK — Disgraced ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is facing mounting legal and health concerns, nearly seven years after dozens of women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him, helping to spark the global #MeToo movement.
Thursday he was charged with additional sex crimes in New York for a new trial this fall. The grand jury’s decision will remain secret until he formally appears in court.
Weinstein has maintained that all sexual acts were consensual.
Meanwhile, the 72-year-old is still in hospital after emergency heart surgery —just the latest in a series of medical conditions that have occurred during captivity.
Below is a summary of the current status:
In April, the New York Supreme Court ruled overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for rape and sexual assault. He ruled that the judge had wrongly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women who were not part of the case.
A new trial has been ordered and the tentative start date is November 12.
One of the two prosecutors in the case has said she is willing to testify against Weinstein again, but it remains to be seen whether the other prosecutor will testify again.
Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for this conviction.
Earlier this month, prosecutors announced that a Manhattan grand jury had reviewed evidence from three additional allegations against Weinstein.
The allegations include alleged assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and at a residential building in Lower Manhattan between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.
It is unclear when Weinstein will be formally charged on these charges, given his current state of health. The next court hearing ahead of the retrial is scheduled for September 18.
It’s also unclear how the additional charges will play into the new trial. Prosecutors want to include the new charges in the new trial, but Weinstein’s lawyers oppose that, saying it should be a separate case.
In 2022, Weinstein was found guilty of rape, forced oral copulation and another sexual misconduct after a month-long trial in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
During the trial a woman was testified that Weinstein showed up uninvited at her hotel room during the 2013 LA Italia Film Festival and that Weinstein became sexually aggressive after she let him in.
Weinstein’s lawyers appealed the conviction in June, arguing that the judge wrongly excluded evidence showing the Italian model and actor was in a sexual relationship with the film festival director at the time of the alleged assault.
The British Public Prosecution Service announced on September 5 that it had decided to two charges of assault dropped against Weinstein because there was ‘no realistic chance of a conviction.’
In 2022, the agency authorized London’s Metropolitan Police Service to bring charges against Weinstein over an alleged incident that took place in London in 1996. The victim was in her 50s at the time of the announcement.
Weinstein also stands against multiple lawsuits brought by women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
One of the latest is that of actress Julia Ormond, who starred opposite Brad Pitt in “Legends of the Fall” and Harrison Ford in “Sabrina.” She filed the lawsuit last year in New York, where he accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 1995 and subsequently damaging her career.
Most of the lawsuits against Weinstein were ended by a settlement from 2021 as part of the bankruptcy of his former film company, The Weinstein Co. The settlement included a victims’ fund of about $17 million for about 40 women who sued him.
Weinstein’s lawyers have frequently raised concerns about his deteriorating health since his arrest following his conviction in 2020.
He is frequently wheeled around in Manhattan court appearances, and his lawyers say he suffers from macular degeneration and diabetes, exacerbated by his poor prison diet.
Weinstein’s pericardiocentesis surgery last week was intended to drain fluid from around his heart. His lawyers say his medical regimen is causing him to retain fluid and that he must be monitored constantly to ensure the fluid buildup is not fatal.
A judge has granted his request to remain indefinitely at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan instead of being transferred to the infirmary at the notorious Rikers Island jail complex.
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Follow Philip Marcelo on twitter.com/philmarcelo.