Weinstein facing sex assault charges
Movie mogul expected to surrender to N.Y. authorities Friday
NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie mogul, is expected to surrender to investigators in Manhattan on Friday and face sexual assault charges after a monthslong inquiry into allegations by numerous women.
The charges follow an avalanche of accusations against him that led women around the world, some of them famous and many of them not, to come forward with accounts of being sexually harassed and assaulted by powerful men.
Those stories spawned the global #MeToo movement, and since then, the ground has shifted beneath men who for years benefited from a code of silence around their predatory behavior.
Weinstein, 66, who has been accused of sexually abusing and assaulting movie stars and employees of his former namesake company and then paying them or coercing them to stay silent, will face sexual assault charges in connection with the accusations of two women, according to law enforcement officials. One of the women is Lucia Evans, whose account was reported in the New Yorker. Evans said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him during a business meeting in 2004.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had also been investigating allegations that Weinstein raped an actress, Paz de la Huerta, in her home in New York City in 2010, as well as allegations by three to five additional victims.
Weinstein, the subject of rumors in media and entertainment circles for years, began facing official inquiries in New York, Los Angeles and London after revelations in the New York Times and the New Yorker about his history of sexually assaulting women and paying or putting pressure on them not to speak out. Three years ago, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office decided not to prosecute Weinstein after an Italian model, Ambra Battilana, accused him of groping her breasts during a meeting in his office.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment. In the past, he has said Weinstein denies any allegations of “nonconsensual sex.”
Federal prosecutors have also been investigating whether Weinstein’s abusive conduct violated federal stalking laws and examined the movie producer’s finances. The office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., convened what is known as an investigatory grand jury to examine the accusations.
News outlets have reported on dozens of allegations against Weinstein, many of them sharing a common narrative: Women reported to a hotel for what they thought were work reasons, only to discover that Weinstein had different interests. But it remains to be seen how sweeping the charges against Weinstein will be. That is one of many hurdles sex crime prosecutions often face, ever more so in cases of powerful men like Weinstein who come armed with high-priced lawyers.
Vance has been under pressure to resolve his office’s investigation into Weinstein. Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered a review of his handling of the 2015 allegations and women’s advocates have criticized the slow pace of Vance’s investigation.