Jailed Harvey Weinstein taken to NYC hospital for emergency heart surgery, his representatives say
NEW YORK — Jailed ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein underwent emergency heart surgery at a New York City hospital on Monday, his representatives said.
Weinstein, 72, was taken from Rikers Island prison complex to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan on Sunday evening “due to serious medical conditions,” according to his publicist Juda Engelmayer and prison counselor Craig Rothfeld.
“We can confirm that Mr. Weinstein underwent a procedure and surgery on his heart today,” they said, declining to comment further on his condition.
ABC News first reported that Weinstein had been hospitalized.
Weinstein has been in Bellevue Hospital since he returned to Rikers Island from state prison in April after an appeals court overturned his 2020 rape and sexual assault convictions and ordered a new trial.
In July, he was hospitalized for treatment of several health conditions, including COVID-19 and pneumonia in both lungs, his representatives said.
The state Court of Appeals ruled that the judge in the 2020 trial improperly allowed testimony from women whose allegations against Weinstein were not part of the case.
Last week, prosecutors announced they were taking steps to potentially charge him with three additional sexual assaults.
They said they presented evidence to a grand jury of up to three previously unsubstantiated allegations against Weinstein: two sexual assaults in the mid-2000s and another assault in 2016.
A vote on possible new charges is expected soon.
At the same time, British prosecutors said last week that they would drop two sexual assault charges against Weinstein in 2022 because there was “no realistic prospect of a conviction.”
Weinstein has denied raping or sexually assaulting anyone. He remains in custody in New York while awaiting a new trial in Manhattan which is tentatively scheduled to begin on November 12. He is due back in court on September 12 for a preliminary hearing.
Weinstein became the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movementwhich arose in 2017 when women came forward with stories about his behavior.
During the original trial, Weinstein was convicted of forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and third-degree rape for an attack on an aspiring actor in 2013. Those charges will be part of his retrial. Weinstein’s acquittals on charges of predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape still stand.
After the retrial, Weinstein will serve a prison sentence 16 years in prison in California for a separate rape conviction in Los Angeles, authorities said. Weinstein was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022.
Weinstein, co-founder of film studios Miramax and The Weinstein Company, was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, producing Oscar winners such as “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love.”