Model expected to testify at Weinstein’s rape trial
NEW YORK: A woman who has claimed Harvey Weinstein lured her into his home under the pretence of reading a script and then raped her was expected to take the stand in the former Hollywood producer’s sexual assault trial yesterday.
Tarale Wulff, a model and former cocktail waitress, is not one of the two women Mr Weinstein is charged with assaulting. But she is one of three women who prosecutors are calling to bolster their case against him by trying to provide evidence of his motives or methods.
“As a former prosecutor myself, I have no doubt that Ms Wulff will be a highly credible witness with a disturbing and compelling account of what she was forced to endure at the hands of Harvey Weinstein,” her lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, said in a statement last week.
Mr Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting Mimi Haleyi and Jessica Mann. Since 2017, more than 80 women, including many famous actresses, have accused Mr Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
The accusations fuelled the #MeToo movement, in which women have accused powerful men in business, entertainment, media and politics of sexual misconduct. Mr Weinstein’s trial is widely seen as an important milestone in the movement. Mr Weinstein has denied the allegations.
Jurors in the trial have already heard from Ms Haleyi, who worked as a production assistant on the television show Project Runway. She testified on Monday that Mr Weinstein invited her to his Manhattan home in July 2006 and attacked her, backing her into a bedroom and forcing oral sex on her.
They have also heard from actress Annabella Sciorra, known for her role on HBO’s The Sopranos, who testified last week that Mr Weinstein forced his way into her Manhattan apartment one winter night in 1993 or 1994 and violently raped her.
While Sciorra’s allegation is too old to support a separate rape charge, prosecutors hope it will show he is a repeat sexual predator — a charge that could put him in prison for life.