Harvey Weinstein Indicted on Charges of Rape, Sex Crimes

“This indictment brings the defendant another step closer to accountability for the crimes of violence with which he is now charged,” Manhattan DA says

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Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on charges of rape in the first and third degrees, as well as on charges of criminal sexual act in the first degree.

“A Grand Jury has voted to indict Harvey Weinstein on charges of Rape in the First and Third Degrees, and Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree,” the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced Wednesday.

“This indictment brings the defendant another step closer to accountability for the crimes of violence with which he is now charged,” added the statement. “Our office will try this case not in the press, but in the courtroom where it belongs. The defendant’s recent assault on the integrity of the survivors and the legal process is predictable. We are confident that when the jury hears the evidence, it will reject these attacks out of hand.”

In response, Weinstein’s attorney Ben Brafman said in a statement, “The announcement of Mr. Weinstein’s Indictment, does not come as a surprise… Mr. Weinstein intends to enter a plea of Not Guilty and vigorously defend against these unsupported allegations that he strongly denies. We will soon formally move to dismiss the indictment and if this case actually proceeds to trial, we expect Mr. Weinstein to be acquitted.”

Weinstein was arrested on Friday in New York City on three felony charges of rape and criminal sex act stemming from a months-long investigation by the NYPD into accusations by multiple women.

Though the Hollywood mogul has been accused of misconduct by more than 80 women, the criminal charges by New York prosecutors stem from the accusations of two women. The first-degree criminal sex act charge comes from a case involving aspiring actress Lucia Evans in 2004.

The two rape charges stem from an unidentified accuser who accused Weinstein of keeping her against her will in a room at the DoubleTree Metropolitan hotel in midtown Manhattan in 2013. According to the complaint, Weinstein “engaged in sexual intercourse with informant by forcible compulsion, to wit, defendant penetrated informant’s vagina with his penis and, at the time of the incident informant had clearly expressed her lack of consent to the act.”

Weinstein entered a not guilty plea. He also faces several lawsuits, including a class-action RICO suit filed by several of his accusers and a separate one filed by actress Ashley Judd, who accused him of sabotaging her career.

Weinstein, 66, surrendered to authorities at Manhattan’s first precinct in Tribeca, just blocks away from the offices of his former film and TV empire, The Weinstein Company (and before that, Miramax) which he had founded and run with brother, Bob Weinstein. The company filed for bankruptcy in March, and was acquired by Lantern Capital earlier this month for $310 million.

He was fired by TWC’s board just days after the New York Times first reported accusations of misconduct over decades — and was subsequently expelled from the academies that sponsor the Oscars, Emmys and BAFTA Awards as well as the Producers Guild of America.

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