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A look at Harvey Weinstein's health and legal woes as he faces more criminal charges

A look at Harvey Weinstein's health and legal woes as he faces more criminal charges

NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced former film mogul Harvey Weinstein is facing increasing legal and health problems some seven years after numerous women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him, helping to launch the global #MeToo movement.

On Thursday he was accused of further sex crimes in New York ahead of a retrial in the fall. The grand jury's decision will remain sealed until he is formally charged in court.

Weinstein insisted that all sexual activity was consensual.

The 72-year-old is still in hospital. Emergency heart surgery – just the latest example of a series of illnesses that have occurred during detention.

Here is a summary of the current status:

Resumption of proceedings in New York

In April, New York’s highest court Weinstein's 2020 conviction overturned on charges of rape and sexual assault, ruling that the trial judge had wrongly admitted testimony against him based on allegations made by other women who were not part of the case.

A new hearing has been ordered, with the provisional start date being 12 November.

One of the two accusers in the case has said she is willing to testify against Weinstein again, but it remains to be seen whether the other accuser will also take the stand again.

Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for this conviction.

New criminal charges

Earlier this month, prosecutors announced that a grand jury in Manhattan had reviewed evidence for up to three additional charges against Weinstein.

These include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel (now the Roxy Hotel) and in a residential building in Lower Manhattan between late 2005 and mid-2006, as well as an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.

Given Weinstein's current health, it is unclear when he will be formally charged. The next court hearing before a retrial is scheduled for September 18.

It is also unclear how the additional allegations will be taken into account in the retrial. Prosecutors want to include the new charges in the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers are against it and say it should be a separate case.

Appeal against judgment in California

In 2022, Weinstein was found guilty After a month-long trial in Los Angeles, he was charged with rape, forced oral sex and another sexual assault. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

During the trial a woman attested that Weinstein showed up uninvited at her hotel room during the 2013 LA Italia Film Festival and that Weinstein became sexually aggressive after she let him in.

Weinstein's lawyers appealed against the verdict on the grounds that the trial judge had wrongly excluded evidence that the Italian model and actor had been having a sexual relationship with the director of the film festival at the time of the alleged assault.

Charges dropped in UK

The British Crown Prosecution Service announced on 5 September that it had decided two charges of sexual assault dropped against Weinstein because there was “no longer any realistic prospect of a conviction.”

In 2022, the agency authorized London's Metropolitan Police Service to bring charges against Weinstein for an alleged incident that occurred in London in 1996. The victim was in her 50s at the time of the disclosure.

Pending civil proceedings

Weinstein is also facing several lawsuits by women who accused him of sexual misconduct.

One of the latest is a film by actress Julia Ormond, who starred alongside Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall and Harrison Ford in Sabrina. filed the lawsuit last year in New York and accused Weinstein of sexually harassing her in 1995 and then hindering her career.

Most of the lawsuits against Weinstein were brought by an agreement in 2021 as part of the bankruptcy of his former film company, The Weinstein Co. The agreement included a victims' fund of about $17 million for about 40 women who sued him.

Health problems

Weinstein's lawyers have regularly expressed concerns about his deteriorating health since his incarceration following his 2020 conviction.

He is regularly transported in a wheelchair during his appearances in Manhattan court, and his lawyers say he suffers from macular degeneration and diabetes, which have been exacerbated by poor nutrition in prison.

Weinstein's pericardiocentesis last week was to drain fluid around his heart. His lawyers say his medications cause him to retain water and he needs constant monitoring to make sure the fluid buildup is not fatal.

A judge has granted his request to remain indefinitely at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan rather than being transferred back to the infirmary at the notorious Rikers Island prison complex.

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Follow Philip Marcelo on twitter.com/philmarcelo.

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