Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears at a hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 1, 2024 in New York City. This is his first public appearance since the New York State Court of Appeals overturned his 2020 rape conviction on April 25.Â
David Dee Delgado-Pool | Getty Images
Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood mogul whose alleged sexual misconduct fueled the #MeToo movement, has been indicted on new charges by a New York City grand jury.
The new charges are under seal, prosecutors told a judge in Manhattan criminal court Thursday, adding that they could not yet get into specifics.
NBC News was first to report this month that a grand jury had been convened to hear from women who had come forward with new accusations against Weinstein, 72.
Weinstein, who was rushed to a hospital earlier this week for heart surgery, did not appear in court Thursday.
In all, more than 80 women have accused the Oscar-winning ex-producer of sexual assault or harassment. He has repeatedly and vehemently denied those claims, insisting the encounters in question were consensual.
Weinstein was convicted in 2020 of third-degree rape of one woman and first-degree criminal sex act against another woman after a trial in New York, where he was sentenced to 23 years in prison.Â
But that conviction was overturned in April after a state appellate court, in a 4-3 decision, determined the judge had erred by allowing women to testify about allegations that were not part of the case.
New York prosecutors announced months later that they intended to recharge Weinstein for the same crimes and possibly bring forward new charges.
The former producer will head to trial in November, but it is unclear whether he will be tried at the same time on both the original and new charges. He will remain in custody until that retrial.
In addition to the New York case, Weinstein was found guilty of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault in a 2022 trial in Los Angeles, where he was sentenced to 16 years. Weinstein’s legal team is in the process of appealing that conviction.
In the 1990s and the 2000s, Weinstein and his younger brother, Bob, were titans of the movie business, producing seminal independent films like “Pulp Fiction” and distributing the Oscar-winning dramas “The English Patient,” “Shakespeare in Love” and “The King’s Speech.”
But his reign came crashing down in October 2017 after women started going on the record with stories of sexual abuse. The stories inspired a wider reckoning with abuses of power in entertainment and other high-profile industries.
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