WEINSTEIN FACES 11 NEW SEX CHARGES
HARVEY Weinstein was accused of a fresh string of sexual assaults and rapes as his latest trial began in Los Angeles yesterday.
In opening statements, prosecutors said the disgraced film mogul carried out sex acts on women without their consent – reducing one of them to tears.
The alleged victims were intimidated by the ‘domineering’ Weinstein and thought of him as the ‘king’, the Los Angeles superior court heard.
The latest trial – his second – comes two years after he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for similar offences. The case in New York made international headlines and was seen as a watershed moment in the MeToo movement against sexual abuse. He has since appealed the conviction. Should Weinstein be found guilty of the current allegations, he faces 140 years in jail.
The 11 charges relate to five women during a period between 2004 and 2013 in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.
Now aged 70 and in poor health, Weinstein was wheeled into the courtroom for the first day of his trial wearing a black suit, blue tie and glasses.
As he struggled into a seat by his defence table, he was seen scanning the packed courtroom and asked his lawyer, ‘Who’s here?’
The accusers will be identified during the trial as Jane Does 1-5 due to a California law that forbids them being named during proceedings.
However some have been publicly identified including model Lauren Young and Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker who is married to California governor Gavin Newsom.
The trial is due to last six to eight weeks meaning that it will coincide with the release of She Said – a film about the New York Times reporters whose 2017 investigation into Weinstein led to his arrest.