New York seeking to charge Harvey Weinstein with more sex crimes as Britain drops its case

Harvey Weinstein. Pic/AFP

Harvey Weinstein, who was spared from prosecution in Britain on Thursday, now faces the prospect of a new indictment in New York, where prosecutors retrying the disgraced movie mogul's rape case are taking steps to potentially charge him with up to three additional sex assaults. Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which authorised two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein in 2022, announced that it decided to discontinue the proceedings because there was "no longer a realistic prospect of conviction."

On the other hand, the Manhattan district attorney's office in New York has begun presenting evidence to a grand jury of up to three previously uncharged allegations against Weinstein - two sexual assaults in the mid-2000s and one in 2016. The New York grand jury's term expired yesterday, and a vote on an indictment is expected this weekend, though it is possible the process could extend beyond that. Prosecutors said they would seek to combine any new charges with ones previously brought against Weinstein, 72, so that they could be tried together.

In April, New York's top court overturned Weinstein's rape and sexual assault convictions and ordered a new trial. The state's Court of Appeals found that the judge in the 2020 trial unfairly allowed testimony from women whose claims against Weinstein weren't part of the case. Prosecutors shared some information about the additional allegations that the grand jury is weighing at a court conference on Tuesday. They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.

Judge Curtis Farber elicited the details as Weinstein's lawyers weighed potentially having him testify before the grand jury, which they said he'd wanted to do. Weinstein, 72, was not present at the conference.

He has denied that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone. He remains in custody in New York while awaiting a retrial in Manhattan that's tentatively scheduled to begin November 12. He is expected back in court for a pretrial hearing September 12. Weinstein became the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movement, which took root in 2017 when women began to go public with accounts of his behaviour.

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