Weinstein dated accuser, lawyer claims

The woman who has accused Harvey Weinstein of rape in his criminal case was in a decade-long relationship with him that continued after the alleged attack in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013, a lawyer for the film producer said on Tuesday.

Attorney Benjamin Brafman made the remark after meeting behind closed doors with prosecutors and a New York judge on Tuesday over defence concerns about whether Weinstein can get a fair trial.

The criminal case revolves around two women, only one of whom, the former actress Lucia Evans, has gone public with her story of being abused by Weinstein at his office in 2004.

Prosecutors haven’t identified the second accuser, who told investigators Weinstein confined her in a hotel room and raped her.

Brafman said he also wouldn’t identify the woman by name, but speaking to reporters outside a Manhattan courthouse, said she was “someone with whom he has had a 10-year consensual, sexual relationship, both before the alleged incident and after the alleged incident.”

Brafman called the allegation “serious on its face, but when you drill down on it, it is in my opinion also absurd.”

He added that the woman who made the rape claim was not Weinstein’s wife, Georgina Chapman, who married him in 2007 and filed for divorce after the scandal broke last fall.

Weinstein, 66, surrendered last week and was led into court in handcuffs to face rape and criminal sex acts charges involving the two women. —