LA police send Weinstein sex assault cases to prosecutors
FILE – In this Jan. 8, 2017, file photo, Harvey Weinstein arrives at The Weinstein Company and Netflix Golden Globes afterparty in Beverly Hills, Calif. Weinstein is accused by dozens of women of sexual harassment or assault. He was fired by The Weinstein Co., expelled from various professional guilds and is under investigation by police departments in New York, London, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. He denies all allegations of non-consensual sex, but he has apologized for causing “a lot of pain” with “the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past.” (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
Police in Los Angeles have submitted three sexual assault cases against disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein to prosecutors, the District Attorney’s Office said on Thursday.
“Three cases were presented to our office on February 1 by the Los Angeles Police Department regarding Mr. Weinstein and are under review,” spokesman Greg Risling said in a statement, without offering further details.
The office is also believed to be reviewing two other possible cases previously submitted by the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Dozens of Hollywood women -– including Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Beckinsale and Salma Hayek — have accused Weinstein of acts ranging from sexual harassment to rape.
The veteran producer, who is reportedly in treatment for sexual addiction as he faces parallel investigations by police in New York and London, has repeatedly denied having non-consensual sex.
Actress Uma Thurman, linked to Weinstein’s Miramax studio through her iconic roles in “Pulp Fiction” and “Kill Bill,” became his latest accuser on Saturday, alleging that he tried to “shove himself” on her and expose himself.
LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in November she had created a specialized task force to evaluate cases of “sexual abuse in the entertainment industry.”
She said the team included specialist sex crimes prosecutors who would review cases to determine if criminal charges were warranted.
Accusations of sexual assault have continued to pour in since investigations in The New York Times and The New Yorker last year exposed a series of accounts of sexual predation by the film tycoon.
British police are investigating sexual assault allegations brought by nine women against Weinstein, according to various media reports.
The Weinstein scandal touched off a deluge of allegations against powerful men in entertainment, politics and the media, forcing many industries to re-examine workplace policies.
The latest accuser, American supermodel Kate Upton, spoke out in interview published by Time magazine on Thursday to allege that fashion guru Paul Marciano had harassed and sexually abused her.
Guess did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment but the Moroccan-born French-American businessman told Time the allegations were “absolutely false” and “absurd.”
Upton said that after her first day of shooting the Guess Lingerie campaign in July 2010, Marciano forcibly grabbed her breasts and started fondling them, insisting that he was “making sure they’re real” when she pushed him away.
“At one point he forcibly grabbed the back of my head so that I could not move and started kissing my face and my neck,” Upton went on.
“I remember not wanting to say ‘get off of me’ because I didn’t want to open my mouth to say anything because I didn’t want him to be able to put his tongue in my mouth.” /muf
