Harvey Weinstein has been charged with additional sexual offenses days after being rushed to hospital for heart surgery.
The disgraced movie mogul, 72, faces new charges ahead of his retrial in New York, but the indictment will remain sealed until Weinstein is arraigned on the new charges on Sept. 18.
Weinstein is recovering in a Manhattan hospital after emergency surgery to remove fluid from his heart and lungs, and was not present at a hearing Thursday on the new charges.
This comes after prosecutors retrying Weinstein’s overturned rape conviction revealed last week that they had begun presenting evidence of as many as three additional allegations against Weinstein, dating back to the mid-2000s.
Harvey Weinstein has been charged with additional sexual offences days after being rushed to hospital for heart surgery.
The alleged crimes in the new indictment reportedly include sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and at a residential building in Lower Manhattan between late 2005 and mid-2006.
The indictment also includes an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.
Because the indictment is sealed, it is not known whether the new charges involve some or all of the additional allegations.
Earlier this year, Weinstein had his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges overturned and was ordered to stand a new trial.
The case was thrown out after the appeals court ruled that the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations from other women who were not part of the trial.
Prosecutors have since sought to retry Weinstein on those 2020 charges, though it is unclear whether the new charges will be included in the retrial, according to the Associated Press.
The disgraced movie mogul, 72, pictured at his most recent court appearance on August 19, 2024, where he appeared frail in a wheelchair.
The new charges come after prosecutors in Britain announced last week that they would no longer pursue indecent assault charges against Weinstein.
He has languished in prison in New York since his conviction, after becoming the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movement in 2017, when women began going public with accounts of his behavior.
At Thursday’s hearing, which Weinstein did not attend, a judge ruled that the producer’s poor health meant he would be allowed to remain at Bellevue Hospital rather than return to Rikers Island.
Weinstein, co-founder of the film and television production company Miramax, has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
The charges against Weinstein come as no surprise, as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has signaled for months that his office intended to take further action against him.
Although some of the allegations against the producer have expired, at a hearing in July prosecutors said they were actively pursuing allegations of rape that occurred in Manhattan within that time frame.
Weinstein has been in prison in New York since his conviction, but his poor health prompted a judge on Thursday to rule that he can remain in the hospital.
The moves against Weinstein also appear to have been prompted by a renewed willingness by his alleged victims to come forward.
Prosecutors said some potential accusers who were not ready to come forward during Weinstein’s first trial in New York had indicated they were now willing to testify against him.
This includes one of the women whose testimony led to Weinstein’s previous conviction being overturned, Jessica Mann, who is reportedly willing to testify against him again.
Weinstein was also notably convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape, and even if acquitted at his retrial, he would not be released from custody.
His 16-year prison sentence in that case remains in effect, but his lawyers appealed in June, arguing that he did not receive a fair trial in Los Angeles. Weinstein has remained detained at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York, and is currently in the hospital, as he awaits a new trial.