Weinstein faces rape, sex crime charges
NEW YORK (AP) — It was the moment the #MeToo movement had been waiting for: Harvey Weinstein in handcuffs.
His face pulled in a strained smile and his hands locked behind his back, the once-powerful Hollywood figure emerged from a police station on Friday facing rape and criminal sex act charges, a searing reckoning for the man who became a symbol of a worldwide outcry over sexual misconduct.
“This defendant used his position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually,” Manhattan Assistant Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said later, in words that brought raised eyebrows from the otherwise stony-faced Weinstein.
The charges stem from encounters with two of the dozens of women — some famous, some not — who have accused him of sexual misdeeds. The rape charge involves a woman who has not come forward publicly; the other, a one-time aspiring actress who was among his first accusers.
Weinstein has consistently denied any allegations of nonconsensual sex.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said he would fight to get the charges dismissed as he began to take aim at the accusations and accusers. He noted that the alleged attacks were not reported to police when they happened and suggesting potential jurors would not believe the women.
“Assuming,” he added, “we get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seems to have overtaken this case.”
Asked about the raft of other allegations against Weinstein, Brafman said the case was a question of crime, not bad behavior.
“Mr. Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood,” the attorney said.
Weinstein was released on $1 million bail, with constant electronic monitoring and a ban on traveling beyond New York and Connecticut.
As he surrendered, the 66-year-old mogul found himself surrounded by lights and cameras in a spectacle he could not control.
“You sorry, Harvey?” came a shout from a throng of media as the once powerful movie magnate was led into a lower Manhattan courthouse.
Asked “What can you say?” Weinstein mildly shook his head and softly said “No.”
Earlier, he lumbered into a police station carrying three books that harkened to his show business roots: one on the Broadway songwriting team of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and another about famed film director Elia Kazan. The identity of the third book was not immediately apparent.
During a half-hour in a cell, officials said, he sat on the floor and flipped through the Kazan biography. Later, in a courthouse booking area, he complained he felt faint and his handcuffs were too tight.
Officers used three, linked sets to put his hands behind his back — a common procedure for heavyset prisoners. Other suspects who recognized him yelled out, “Yo, Harvey!”
The top charges against him carry the potential for up to 25 years in prison.
More than 75 women have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing, and authorities in California and London are also investigating assault allegations. Brafman also said Weinstein was a “principal target” of an investigation being conducted by the US attorney’s office in Manhattan.