Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein hired Bill Cosby’s lawyer to appeal his rape conviction in Los Angeles, where he is serving 16 years in prison.
The convicted sex offender, 71, hired Jennifer Bonjean months after he was convicted of raping and assaulting Russian-born, Italy-based model Evgeniya Chernyshova.
Known for high-profile rape cases, Bonjean famously got a court in Pennsylvania in 2021 to overturn Cosby’s sexual assault convictions over a technicality. She also represented sex offender R. Kelly and NXIVM leader Keith Rainere.
Allegations against Weinstein became public in October 2017 – a year before he was arrested in New York and later sentenced to 23 years in prison amid the #MeToo movement.
Last month, he was extradited first class from the Los Angeles jail to New York’s Mohawk Correctional Facility.
Harvey Weinstein, 71, hired a high-profile lawyer to help overturn his LA conviction – where he is serving 16 years in prison
Attorney Jennifer Bonjean (above) was added to Weinstein’s legal team along with Michael Freedman
Bonjean (above) represented comedian Bill Cosby and sex offender R. Kelly. She helped overturn Cosby’s 2021 sexual assault convictions for a technicality
Bonjean has worked his way through Hollywood defending the media’s most controversial men.
The high-profile attorney, who has “not guilty” tattooed on her arm, will now represent Weinstein to represent the controversial filmmaker in his efforts to have his LA conviction overturned. Attorney Michael Freedman will also join Weinstein’s legal team.
Chernyshova, now 43, was the victim of the 2013 rape for which Weinstein was imprisoned in Los Angeles.
The model recently came forward in February after being referred to only as “Jane Doe 1,” an unnamed Italian actress who assaulted Weinstein a decade ago in Beverly Hills.
She spoke out for the first time in a interview with The Hollywood Reporter claiming she is “tired of hiding.”
‘I want my life back. I’m Evgeniya, I was raped. This is my story,” she told the news outlet.
“Part of me, I fear for my future. But I’m proud of myself. If I keep hiding, I can’t do anything. I’ll just be there with my pain,” she said.
Chernyshova told the court how Weinstein raped her in 2013 after she showed up uninvited in her hotel room at the Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel. She grew up in Siberia, but had moved to Italy and was living there with her husband at the time of the attack.
She was in LA on a business trip when Weinstein attacked her.
Evgeniya Chernyshova, now 43, was previously known only as “Jane Doe 1,” an unnamed Italian actress who assaulted Weinstein in Beverly Hills a decade ago. She is shown in 2013 during the trip where Weinstein attacked her
Chernyshova, left, in 2013, and right, more recently. She has decided to come forward now after going through “hell” to remain anonymous and unable to contact Weinstein’s other victims.
Chernyshova told the court how Weinstein raped her in 2013 after she showed up uninvited in her hotel room at the Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel
After showing up at her hotel room, he told her through the door, “Hey, it’s Harvey Weinstein. Open the door. We have to talk. I’m not going to fuck you, I just need to talk to you.”
They had only met twice before; once in Rome, and earlier that day at an event.
Weinstein reported to her hotel room and she let him in.
“And that’s what I’ve regretted for the past 10 years — opening this door.”
The model explained that she begged Weinstein not to touch her and tried to show him pictures of his children to stop him.
After the rape, Chernyshova and her husband separated. He has since passed away. She later moved to the US with her children. She still lives in LA where she runs a florist.
Weinstein heard “whining” about his 16-year prison sentence in February and made the outrageous claim that his victim accused him of “money laundering.”
The disgraced mogul was cleared of a sexual battery charge by another woman, an unnamed massage therapist who treated Weinstein at LA’s Montage hotel known as Jane Doe 3 in 2010.
In total, the suitcase was inside five assault charges filed by the four women for incidents that occurred in LA County between 2004 and 2013, including two cases of forced rape — one involving Siebel Newsom and another involving the unnamed Russian model, who said Weinstein was uninvited door appeared in her hotel room during a Los Angeles film festival in 2013.
Weinstein had pleaded not guilty to all charges, which could have increased his current sentence by as much as 65 years.
He maintains his innocence, as he has been on his first conviction for his New York sentencing for two years.
His sentence in Los Angeles does not start until he has completed 23 years in New York. By the end of both, they will likely be released at age 107, if they are still alive at that point.
“It’s incredible to be convicted of a crime I wasn’t even present for. I am innocent. I never raped or assaulted anyone,” Weinstein said in a statement after the verdict.