Weinstein charge is dropped over ‘coaching’ claim

A SEX assault charge against former film tycoon Harvey Weinstein was dropped in a Manhattan court yesterday after it emerged that a detective coached a witness in the case.

The charge related to Lucia Evans who alleged that Weinstein, 66, forced her to give him oral sex in his hotel room in 2004, when she was a 21-yearold student.

Prosecutors said it had emerged that a friend of Ms Evans gave an account to a police detective which cast doubt on the allegation.

But the officer urged her not to reveal details and failed to share her information with prosecutors.

Weinstein, who denies the five remaining claims of non-consensual sex, still faces charges of raping a woman and performing a forcible sex act on another.

Assistant district attorney Joan Illuzzi-orbon said the dismissal of the charge involving Ms Evans “would not affect the strength of the larger case”.

She told the judge: “In short, your honour, we are moving full steam ahead.”

Ms Evans’s lawyer, Carrie Goldberg, said her client had been “abandoned” and that she still maintained she had been assaulted by Weinstein. He is free on $1million (£755,000) bail.