Harvey Weinstein faces new sexual assault charge
Harvey Weinstein has been charged with a new felony sexual assault count by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office. Weinstein, who was previously charged with four counts of forcible sexual assault and battery in LA, will now face an additional charge of sexual battery by restraint in connection with a May 2010 incident, District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement.
“We are continuing to build and strengthen our case,” Lacey said in a statement. “As we gather corroborating evidence, we have reached out to other possible sexual assault victims. If we find new evidence of a previously unreported crime, as we did here, we will investigate and determine whether additional criminal charges should be filed.”
Prosecutors said Harvey Weinstein’s accuser in the 2010 case was first interviewed by law enforcement last October. Investigators believed she could be a corroborating witness at Harvey Weinstein’s pending Los Angeles trial, where he faces charges of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint.
Charges filed against Harvey Weinstein on Jan. 6 in Los Angeles stemmed from alleged encounters at hotels in LA and Beverly Hills in February 2013. An Italian model, who gave an extensive interview to the Los Angeles Times in 2017, said Harvey Weinstein forced himself on her inside the Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel after they met at the Los Angeles Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest.
The woman said that she showed Harvey Weinstein pictures of her children and begged him to stop during the alleged attack.
“He grabbed me by the hair and forced me to do something I did not want to do,” she said.
Days later, prosecutors allege,
Weinstein invited a woman to his room at a West Los Angeles hotel after a business meeting in the hotel’s restaurant and then trapped her in a bathroom where he groped her while masturbating.
The woman, Lauren Young, later testified about the allegation at Weinstein’s criminal trial in New York City. While on the stand, Young said the attack took place at the Montage Hotel and noted that another woman was present and aided Weinstein by closing the door to the bathroom and leaving her alone with the mogul.
Prosecutors have not said if that person will be charged. The criminal complaint against Weinstein, however, noted that an “accomplice” aided him in restraining the victim in both the May 2010 assault and the attack described by Young.
Weinstein, 68, was sentenced to 23 years in prison last month after being found guilty of rape and committing a criminal sexual act in New York. He is being held in a state prison, where sources said he tested positive for the coronavirus several weeks ago.
LA County prosecutors have begun the process of extraditing Weinstein to California, but it remains unclear when a trial might begin since court business has been severely limited by coronavirus restrictions and Weinstein’s attorneys have said they plan to appeal his conviction in New York.
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