The Manhattan District Attorney has convened a grand jury to secure an indictment against notorious movie producer Harvey Weinstein. The sought-after indictment relates to a sexual assault that Weinstein allegedly committed between 2005 and 2006 in a residential Manhattan building, as well as two further assaults in Tribeca in 2016.
The DA’s office declined to comment to the press, but Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, said he is tempted to bring his client to the grand jury so jurors can “see what he looks like these days.” The Hollywood mogul has denied wrongdoing.
The case contains the latest in a long series of allegations against the film producer whose assaults on Hollywood women prompted the MeToo movement that went viral online in 2017. The scandal erupted when the New York Times published an article detailing several accusations that Weinstein had raped and sexually assaulted dozens of women over three decades. Criminal investigations were opened in New York, London, and Los Angeles, and in 2018, police arrested and charged the producer with several offenses.
In 2020, a New York jury found Weinstein guilty on some charges and not guilty on others. A judge sentenced him to 23 years in prison, but in 2024, the New York Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, saying the original trial judge should not have allowed testimony from victims whose assaults were not included on the charge sheet. Weinstein remained in prison, however, due to similar guilty verdicts in Los Angeles.
The Miramax founder went on trial in LA in 2021 and was convicted on charges of rape, forced oral copulation, and third-degree sexual misconduct. He was jailed for 16 years.
In September, British prosecutors dropped the charges against Weinstein for offenses he allegedly committed there. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) determined there was not a realistic prospect of conviction on charges of indecent assault dating back to 1996. A statement from the prosecution service urged sexual assault victims not to be discouraged by the decision. Frank Ferguson, the head of the CPS’s special crime unit, said, “We will prosecute wherever our legal test is met.”
