Weinstein’s new digs

Convicted sex offender moves jails, LA extradition delayed

DISGRACED movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was transferred to a state prison in New York on Wednesday, local time, as he begins to serve his 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault in his landmark #Metoo case.

The former Hollywood heavyweight, who turned 68 yesterday, is locked up at the maximum security Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo – just near the college where he got his start in the entertainment business as a promoter decades ago – according to state prison officials.

He is known behind bars as inmate No. 20B0584.

Weinstein’s spokesman called the move “harsh”.

Weinstein, convicted on February 24 and sentenced last week, had been splitting time between New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex and a Manhattan hospital.

Weinstein left court in an ambulance after the guilty verdict and detoured to Bellevue Hospital, complaining of chest pains and high blood pressure. He later had a stent inserted to unblock an artery.

After his sentencing, he returned with more chest pains.

Weinstein, the Oscar-winning producer of Shakespeare in

Love, was convicted of raping an aspiring actress in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006. His lawyers have said they’ll appeal.

Within hours of Weinstein’s sentencing, prosecutors in Los Angeles announced they were beginning the extradition process to send him there for an arraignment on charges he raped a woman and sexually assaulted another in 2013. That’s now on hold because of the coronavirus crisis that has shuttered courthouses and limited travel.

For Weinstein, being sent to the Buffalo-area prison is an inauspicious homecoming. He attended college nearby at the State University of New York and got his start in the entertainment business in the area as a concert promoter.