This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old



Harvey Weinstein appeared in court in New York on Monday, to plead not guilty to charges including two counts of predatory sexual assault, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The film producer was released on bail. His lawyer said more charges were expected.

Weinstein was brought into the Manhattan courtroom handcuffed from behind, then uncuffed for the proceedings. His lawyer Benjamin Brafman argued there was no evidence the 66-year-old Weinstein would flee.

“We fight these battles one day at a time, and today we won this round,” Brafman said outside court.



A grand jury previously indicted Weinstein on charges involving two women. The charges answered on Monday concern an alleged forcible sex act performed on a third woman, in 2006.

The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr, has said Weinstein was charged with “some of the most serious sexual offenses” that exist under state law.



Sign up to receive the top US stories every morning

Brafman has said his client maintains all the allegations are false and he will be vindicated.

More than 75 women have accused Weinstein, once one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, of wrongdoing. Allegations detailed in Pulitzer Prize-winning stories last October in the New York Times and the New Yorker drove the #MeToo movement.

Several actors and models accused Weinstein of criminal sexual assaults. They include: the film actor Rose McGowan, who said Weinstein raped her in 1997 in Utah; the Sopranos actor Annabella Sciorra, who said he raped her in her New York apartment in 1992; and the Norwegian actor Natassia Malthe, who said he attacked her in a London hotel room in 2008.

Weinstein lawyers fear 'bad PR' could taint jury in sexual assault trial Read more

A former Weinstein Company production assistant, Mimi Haleyi, last October made allegations against Weinstein that align with the charges in the updated indictment.

Haleyi said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006 in what appeared to be a child’s bedroom in his Manhattan apartment. Neither the district attorney’s office nor Haleyi’s attorney, Gloria Allred, would confirm that Haleyi was the accuser in the new charges.

New York police said in early November that they were investigating allegations by another Weinstein accuser, the Boardwalk Empire actor Paz de la Huerta, who told them in October that he had raped her twice in 2010.

Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex, with his attorney challenging the credibility of his accusers.

Vance urged other accusers to come forward, saying the investigation was continuing.

“If you are a survivor of the predatory abuse with which Mr Weinstein is charged, there is still time to pursue justice,” he said.