WEINSTEIN FACING CHARGES IN BRITAIN
British authorities have authorized criminal charges against Harvey Weinstein on two counts of indecent assault against a woman in 1996 in London, the country’s Crown Prosecution Service announced in a news release Wednesday.
Weinstein, 70, has been convicted of felony sex crimes in New York and is awaiting trial in Los Angeles, where he has been charged with several counts of forcible rape, among other charges.
“Charges have been authorized against Harvey Weinstein, 70, following a review of the evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police in its investigation,” Rosemary Ainslie, the head of the prosecution service’s special crime division, said in a statement.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that it had gathered evidence in the case and that Weinstein was being accused of two counts of indecent assault in London in August 1996, against a woman who is now in her 50s.
Earlier this month a New York appeals court upheld Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on felony sex crimes, increasing the likelihood that he would serve a significant portion of his 23-year sentence. A lawyer for Weinstein said at the time that his legal team would ask the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, to review the decision.
Weinstein must be formally charged at a police station in England or Wales, said David Lindsell, a spokesman for the prosecution service. He declined to comment on the possibility of extradition.
A lawyer for Weinstein, Barry Kamins, declined to comment.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Greg Risling, said that Weinstein would have to stand trial in California before any potential extradition to Britain to face the charges there.