Harvey Weinstein is facing new criminal charges. An indictment against the disgraced producer, revealed Monday, accuses him of sexually assaulting a woman and of committing a pattern of sex crimes.
This comes on top of a previous indictment that accused him of raping a different woman and sexually assaulting another woman _ charges to which he pleaded not guilty.
The new indictment by a grand jury charges Weinstein with one count of a criminal sexual act in the first degree, alleging he committed a forcible sexual act against a woman in July 2006 in New York, as well as two counts of felony predatory sexual assault, Manhattan Dist. Atty. Cyrus Vance said. With the three additional felony charges, Weinstein could face a life sentence.
"A Manhattan grand jury has now indicted Harvey Weinstein on some of the most serious sexual offenses that exist under New York's penal law," Vance said Monday.
Representatives for Weinstein did not immediately comment. The producer has repeatedly denied engaging in nonconsensual sex.
The previous indictment charged him with two counts of rape and one count of first-degree criminal sex act. Last month, he pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Weinstein, 66, surrendered to police in May, and he was marched in handcuffs past a throng of reporters outside the New York Police Department's 1st Precinct. His arrest marked a significant victory for the #MeToo movement, which was born after dozens of women came forward to accuse the film mogul of using his power and influence to sexually exploit young women, including many aspiring actresses.
Prosecutors have not named the alleged victims in either New York case, though one related to the first indictment is believed to be a woman who accused Weinstein of sexual assault in an October article in the New Yorker magazine.
The indictments in New York are the first to surface in the months since more than 80 women came forward to accuse Weinstein of a range of misconduct, from harassment to rape. Those accusations directly sparked the #MeToo movement, which has seen countless victims come forward to accuse powerful Hollywood figures, entertainers and others of sexual exploitation and assault. A raft of notable personalities, including comedian Louis CK, former news anchor Matt Lauer, actor Kevin Spacey and former Sen. Al Franken, have been ensnared by such accusations in recent months.
