Movie mogul charged with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another over two days in 2013

Los Angeles prosecutors announced criminal charges against Harvey Weinstein on Monday, following the start of the disgraced movie mogul’s rape trial in New York.

Weinstein was charged with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in separate incidents over a two-day period in 2013, officials said. The felony charges include forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint.

On 18 February 2013, Weinstein raped a woman at a hotel after pushing his way inside her room, prosecutors alleged. The two had both attended a film festival that week, and when Weinstein showed up at her door, they “talked briefly”, before the producer “attacked” her, according to court filings. This woman, who has not been named, is an Italian actor, according to her attorney, David Ring.

The next evening, a woman and an acquaintance went to Weinstein’s hotel room in Beverly Hills after a business meeting, and when the woman “unwittingly” followed Weinstein into the bathroom, the acquaintance shut the door behind her, prosecutors said. She was “unable to open the door” and Weinstein allegedly got naked and “prevented her from leaving”. He then took off her dress, groped her and masturbated, court records said.

Prosecutors recommended bail be set at $5m.

Weinstein and his attorneys have repeatedly denied allegations of criminal behavior, and a representative did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the California charges on Monday.

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After the opening of his trial in New York, Weinstein’s lawyers had little to say to reporters about the news trickling in of an LA case. “We don’t know what is going to happen. We’re hoping not,” said Damon Cheronis, one of his attorneys.

“We believe the evidence will show that the defendant used his power and influence to gain access to his victims and then commit violent crimes against them,” the LA district attorney, Jackie Lacey, said in a statement. Her office created an entertainment industry sex crimes taskforce in the wake of the 2017 Weinstein scandal and the #MeToo reckoning in Hollywood.

Lacey said it took two years to build the case, and that the timing of the announcement at the start of the New York trial was coincidental. The woman who was attacked in her hotel room did not initially report the assault because Weinstein “threatened her life if she disclosed”, the DA said in court filings.

If convicted, Weinstein faces up to 28 years in prison, prosecutors said. He is expected to be arraigned at a later date.

The news of an LA case comes as Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to five counts in New York, including raping a woman in 2013 and forcing another woman to engage in oral sexual conduct in 2006. The most serious charge is predatory sexual assault, which carries a potential life sentence.

At the start of the New York trial, protesters including the actors Rose McGowan and Rosanna Arquette confronted Weinstein as he got out of his car. More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd.

In a civil case against Weinstein, more than 30 women recently secured a $25m settlement, but the deal sparked intense backlash since Weinstein did not have to pay with his own money and did not have to admit guilt. A number of accusers involved in that case have pledged to dispute the settlement.

In LA, prosecutors were originally investigating accusations from eight people involving allegations of sexual battery or assault, four from the Los Angeles police department and four by Beverly Hills police, according to the LA Times.

The original investigative reporting on Weinstein was awarded the Pulitzer prize in 2018 and paved the way for women in industries across the globe to come forward with stories of sexual abuse.

After the LA case was announced, a group of 25 Weinstein accusers, including McGowan, Arquette and the actor Mira Sorvino, released a statement saying the charges were “a clear indication that the risks we took and the consequences we subsequently faced were not in vain”, adding: “Today represents a new day for our society. Now is the time to see Harvey Weinstein, and abusers like him, finally be brought to justice.”