Harvey Weinstein was hospitalized when he returned to New York from Upstate prison

Harvey Weinstein’s attorney said Saturday that the former movie mogul has been hospitalized for a series of tests upon his return to New York City, following an appeals court ruling that overturned his 2020 rape conviction.

Attorney Arthur Aidala said that after arriving at the city jails on Friday, Weinstein was transferred to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.

They examined him and sent him to Bellevue. It seems like he needs a lot of help physically. He has a lot of problems. He gets all kinds of tests. Health-wise, he’s a bit of a train wreck, Aidala said.

A message left with the hospital was not immediately returned Saturday.

Frank Dwyer, a spokesman for the New York City Department of Correction, said only that Weinstein remains in custody in Bellevue. Thomas Mailey, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, said Weinstein was transferred to the city’s Department of Correction under the appeal ruling. Weinstein was housed at the Mohawk Correctional Facility, about 100 miles northwest of Albany.

On Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals vacated his conviction after concluding that a judge allowed jurors to see and hear too much evidence not directly related to the charges he faced. It also canceled his 23-year prison sentence and ordered a new trial.

Prosecutors said they plan to retry him on charges that he forcibly performed oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and raped an aspiring actor in 2013.

Weinstein remained in custody after the appeal ruling because he was convicted of another rape in Los Angeles in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Weinstein has been battling a variety of conditions for some time, including heart problems, diabetes, sleep apnea and eye problems.

Aidala said he spoke to Weinstein on Friday afternoon after he was in transit from an upstate New York prison, less than 24 hours after the appeal ruling, which was released Thursday morning.

He said his client’s ailments are physical, adding that he is mentally sharp. Feet are firmly on the ground.

The attorney said it usually takes a week or two for state corrections and prison officials to transport an inmate.

He was not treated well. They refused to give him even a sip of water, no food, no bathroom breaks, Aidala said. He is a sickly 72 year old man.

Aidala said he was told that Bellevue doctors planned to perform many tests on Weinstein before he could be returned to the prison complex on Rikers Island.

The lawyer said he will meet with Weinstein on Monday. He added that he plans to tell a judge when Weinstein goes to court in Manhattan on Wednesday that a new trial should take place after Labor Day.

First print: April 28, 2024 | 7:53 am IST