Harvey Weinstein: New charges, third accuser announced by New York prosecutors

Maria Puente | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Harvey Weinstein charged with more 'serious sexual offenses' in NY The Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal is far from over. According to multiple reports, he’s facing some of his most serious allegations to date.

Harvey Weinstein's criminal case in New York just got more serious: On Monday, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced three new sex-crime charges against him involving a third woman accuser.

Vance announced the filing of a "superseding indictment," meaning that the grand jury investigating accusations of sexual assault involving Weinstein added another count of first-degree criminal sexual act and two counts of predatory sexual assault for a forcible sexual act against a woman in July 2006.

The latter is a Class A-II felony that carries a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if he is convicted, Vance's office said.

The indictment says Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on the accuser "on or about July 10, 2006."

The new charges are in addition to those in the previous indictment of Weinstein from the end of May, including rape in the first and third degrees, and first-degree criminal sexual act for forcible sexual acts against two women in 2013 and 2004, respectively.

Vance praised the accusers in the case — none of whom have been officially identified in the indictment — and reiterated his office is still looking for more accusers to come forward.

More: Hollywood men accused of sexual misconduct

“A Manhattan grand jury has now indicted Harvey Weinstein on some of the most serious sexual offenses that exist under New York’s Penal Law,” Vance said in a statement emailed to USA TODAY.

“This indictment is the result of the extraordinary courage exhibited by the survivors who have come forward. Our investigation continues. If you are a survivor of the predatory abuse with which Mr. Weinstein is charged, there is still time to pursue justice."

Weinstein is to be arraigned on the new charges on July 9.

His defense attorney, Benjamin Brafman, issued a statement to USA TODAY in response:

"Mr Weinstein will enter a plea of Not Guilty to the new charges. Mr Weinstein maintains that all of these allegations are false and he expects to be fully vindicated. Furthermore, to charge Mr Weinstein as a predator when the interactions were each consensual is simply not justified."

The grand jury's May 30 indictment closely followed Weinstein's arrest and a bail hearing in which the felony charges against him were read. Brafman said at the time of the first indictment that it was "not a surprise," that it merely "mirrors" the same charges already filed against Weinstein and "does not add anything to the case we did not already know."

"We remind everyone that an indictment is merely a formal accusation," Brafman said in a statement emailed to USA TODAY at the time. "Mr. Weinstein intends to enter a plea of Not Guilty and vigorously defend against these unsupported allegations that he strongly denies."

More: Harvey Weinstein scandal: A complete list of the 87 accusers

Two of the three accusers of Weinstein in the criminal case have not come forward publicly. One, former actress Lucia Evans, has said in interviews that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex at his office in 2004. The other accuser told investigators that Weinstein cornered her in a hotel room and raped her in 2013.

Weinstein, 66, once one of Hollywood's most powerful movie moguls, has consistently denied any non-consensual sexual encounters with his accusers, now numbering nearly 90, who began coming forward in October 2017 with shocking stories of how he allegedly groped, harassed, coerced or raped them in episodes dating back decades and in locations around the world.

So far, New York is the first jurisdiction to lodge criminal charges against him but he is under investigation in California and in London as well. Other Hollywood figures also are under investigation in Los Angeles and in London but so far Weinstein is the only one who has been charged with sex crimes.

The accusations against Weinstein helped set off the #MeToo movement to call out sexual harassment and assault and has led to the fall of scores of powerful men in multiple industries, but especially in Hollywood.