Harvey Weinstein Faces New Sexual Assault Charge in Manhattan

The disgraced Hollywood producer’s 2020 sex-crime conviction was thrown out, but he will be retried on those charges as well.

Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood producer, pleaded not guilty to a new sex-crime indictment in a Manhattan court on Wednesday, months after a previous conviction was thrown out.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Mr. Weinstein on the charge of sexually assaulting a woman in a Manhattan hotel in 2006, is also retrying the earlier case.

The new charge of committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree is just the most recent legal trouble for a man who was the center of accusations that set off the global #MeToo movement. Mr. Weinstein, 72, has also been convicted in California on sex charges and faces a prison term there.

Mr. Weinstein had emergency heart surgery on Sept. 8, and prosecutors had said in a hearing last week that the new indictment would remain sealed until he was well enough to be in court. That day came Wednesday.

Mr. Weinstein was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair, wearing dark rimmed glasses and a dark suit, displaying a bandage on his right hand and holding two books. As he was arraigned, Mr. Weinstein sat next to his lawyers, replying only “not guilty.”

Lindsay M. Goldbrum, a lawyer who said she represents the victim in the new indictment, said her client “has not shared this story publicly before, nor does she want to be identified at this time.”

“She will be fully prepared to speak her truth at trial to hold Mr. Weinstein accountable before a jury of his peers,” Ms. Goldbrum said.

Arthur Aidala, Mr. Weinstein’s lawyer, has said that his client is eager to go to trial as soon as possible.

In 2020, Mr. Weinstein was convicted in New York of raping an aspiring actress in a hotel room seven years earlier. He was also convicted of assaulting a former television production assistant, who testified that he had forced oral sex on her in his Manhattan apartment in July 2006.

But New York’s highest court found this year that the judge who presided over the trial had erred by allowing prosecutors to call several accusers as witnesses, even though their allegations had not led to charges.

Immediately after the Court of Appeals’ April decision, the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, said that he would prosecute Mr. Weinstein again. On Wednesday, Mr. Bragg thanked the “survivor who bravely came forward.”

“Harvey Weinstein now stands indicted for an additional alleged violent sexual assault,” he said.

At the height of his career in Hollywood, Mr. Weinstein was celebrated as a producer who could make careers. However, according to his accusers, he also wielded that power to harass and sexually assault women, many of whom were young and trying to make it in the industry. An investigation by The New York Times found that Mr. Weinstein had paid off sexual harassment accusers for decades.

His conviction in New York was followed by another conviction and a sentence of 16 years in prison in a separate sex-crimes case in Los Angeles.

Wednesday’s indictment accuses Mr. Weinstein of forcing oral sex on the victim.

Jessica Mann, the actress who testified during the 2020 New York trial, said in a statement last week that the new charge against Mr. Weinstein shows that “this grand jury, like so many others, can see clearly through his facade for what he truly is: a predator who must be held accountable for his crimes.”

Ms. Mann, who has been in court at least twice since Mr. Weinstein’s conviction was reversed, said she will “stand alongside” those who “have the courage to come forward.”

“I look forward to continuing to use it as I face Harvey again in court soon and prove that my life is valuable,” she said.

In July, Justice Curtis Farber set a tentative date of Nov. 12 to retry the case reversed earlier this year. The new indictment, as of now, would be a separate case.

In court on Wednesday, Shannon Lucey, a prosecutor, said that the district attorney’s office had asked the judge to consolidate the two cases. Separate trials, she said, would be “inefficient” and “burdensome.”

If the cases are consolidated, prosecutors could be ready as early January, Ms. Lucey said.

Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers have until later this month to file a motion against joining the cases, before Justice Farber makes his decision in early October.

Prosecutors in court asked Justice Farber to ask Mr. Aidala to not make public statements about witnesses, a concern they had raised earlier this year.

Justice Farber reminded the parties to refrain from comments that could “taint the jury pool,” as well as those that could be “intimidating” or “discouraging” to witnesses.