Disgraced former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein will receive sentencing in Los Angeles on Monday from his second rape trial, which could jeopardize his hopes of regaining his freedom.
The 70-year-old former “king” of the cinema was convicted in December in the California megalopolis of rape and two sexual assaults, and faces up to 18 additional years in prison for these crimes.
In 2020 he had already been sentenced to 23 years in prison for similar events during a trial in New York. After having suffered several refusals, he nevertheless obtained authorization in August to appeal this sentence.
Claiming his “innocence”, he has already announced his intention to appeal the verdict in Los Angeles.
Accused by 90 women
Harvey Weinstein, who produced award-winning movies like “Pulp Fiction” and “The Artist,” fell from his pedestal after press investigations in 2017 accused him of being a sexual “predator” in Hollywood.
These revelations had launched #MeToo, a global movement for the liberation of women’s voices on sexual and gender-based violence.
In all, nearly 90 women, including actresses Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosanna Arquette, have accused him of harassment, sexual assault or rape. But the statute of limitations has been exceeded in many of these cases, some dating back to 1977.
The California case involved four women, including Jennifer Siebel-Newsom, wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
An “ogre” with “a stranglehold on Hollywood”
During four weeks of hearings, they accused the producer in great detail of forcing them to have sex in hotels in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013.
Prosecutors have portrayed Harvey Weinstein as an ogre whose stranglehold on Hollywood – the films he produced have received more than 330 Oscar nominations and 81 statuettes – have long prevented his victims from speaking out for fear of repercussions on their careers.
The defense denied any coercion, assuring that it was a consensual and mutually beneficial relationship, while insisting on the lack of material evidence.
After two weeks of deliberation, jurors returned a mixed verdict: They found Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault against one of the plaintiffs, acquitted him of another, and parted ways with the latter two, including Jennifer Siebel-Newson.
The former producer is also charged in the United Kingdom for sexual assaults dating back to 1996.
Source: BFM TV
