A look at Harvey Weinstein’s health, legal issues amid criminal charges
Harvey Weinstein, film producer and co-chairman of The Weinstein Company, is shown in New York on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. Image: AP/John Carucci
NEW YORK — Disgraced ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein faces mounting legal and health troubles some seven years after scores of women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him, helping launch the global #MeToo movement.
On Thursday, he was indicted on additional sex crimes charges in New York ahead of a retrial this fall. The grand jury decision remains sealed until he is formally arraigned in court.
Weinstein has maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Meanwhile, the 72-year-old remains hospitalized following emergency heart surgery — just the latest in an assortment of medical ailments that have cropped up while in custody.
Here’s a recap of where things stand:
Article continues after this advertisementNew York retrial
In April, New York’s highest court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges, ruling that the trial judge had unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case.
Article continues after this advertisementA new trial was ordered and the tentative start date is Nov. 12.
One of the two accusers, in that case, has said she is prepared to testify against Weinstein again, but it remains to be seen if the other accuser will also take the stand once more.
New criminal charges
Earlier this month, prosecutors disclosed that a Manhattan grand jury had reviewed evidence of up to three additional allegations against Weinstein.
They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for a pretrial hearing, following his overturned sex crimes conviction, in New York City, July 19, 2024. – According to US media reports, Weinstein was rushed from a New York City jail to a hospital for emergency heart surgery on September 9, 2024. (Photo by KENA BETANCUR / POOL / AFP)
It is unclear when Weinstein will be formally charged on those allegations, given his current health condition. The next court hearing ahead of the retrial is slated for Sept. 18.
It is also unclear how the additional allegations will factor in the retrial. Prosecutors want to include the new charges in the retrial, but Weinstein’s lawyers oppose that, saying it should be a separate case.
California conviction appealed
In 2022, Weinstein was found guilty of rape, forced oral copulation, and another sexual misconduct count after a one-month trial in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
During the trial, a woman testified that Weinstein appeared uninvited at her hotel room during the LA Italia Film Festival in 2013 and that Weinstein became sexually aggressive after she let him in.
Weinstein’s lawyers appealed the conviction in June, arguing the trial judge wrongly excluded evidence that the Italian model and actor had a sexual relationship with the film festival director at the time of the alleged attack.
UK charges dropped
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service announced on Sept. 5 that it had decided to drop two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein because there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.’’
In 2022, the agency authorized London’s Metropolitan Police Service to file charges against Weinstein over an alleged incident that occurred in London in 1996. The victim was in her 50s at the time of the announcement.
FILE PHOTO: Harvey Weinstein appears for a pretrial hearing in Manhattan criminal court, July 19, 2024, in New York. (Adam Gray/Pool Photo via Associated Press, File)
Pending civil cases
Weinstein also faces several lawsuits brought by women accusing him of sexual misconduct.
Among the latest is one from actor 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 accusing Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 1995 and then hindering her career.
The majority of lawsuits against Weinstein were brought to a close through a 2021 settlement as part of the bankruptcy of his former film company, The Weinstein Co. The agreement included a victims’ fund of about $17 million for some 40 women who sued him.
Health problems
Weinstein’s lawyers have regularly raised concerns about his worsening health since being taken into custody following his 2020 conviction.
During his appearances in Manhattan court, he’s regularly transported in a wheelchair and his lawyers say he suffers from macular degeneration and diabetes that’s worsened due to the poor jailhouse diet.
Weinstein’s pericardiocentesis surgery last week was to drain fluid around his heart. His lawyers say his medical regimen causes him to retain water and that he must be constantly monitored to ensure the fluid buildup isn’t deadly.
A judge has granted his request to remain at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital indefinitely instead of being transferred back to the infirmary ward at the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex.
