Summary
- Harvey Weinstein has been convicted of rape and faces up to 25 years in prison. The disgraced movie mogul was found guilty of a criminal sex act in the first degree and rape in the third degree by a New York jury.
- Following the verdict Weinstein was handcuffed and remanded into custody. He was booked into Rikers Island jail, in New York City, and will be held by the New York City department of corrections until his sentencing, on March 11.
- Weinstein was acquitted on three charges, including the two most serious counts of predatory sexual assault – which carried a possible life sentence – and an alternative count of rape in the first degree.
- The producer’s attorneys said they would appeal the conviction, but Weinstein is facing further charges in LA. Los Angeles authorities have charged him with raping and sexually assaulting two women over a two-day period in February 2013.
- Multiple people in Hollywood and politics have reacted to Weinstein’s conviction and imprisonment. Actor Rose McGowan called the verdict “a huge step forward in our collective healing”. Singer Ashely Judd praised the women who testified against Weinstein, writing, “you did a public service to girls and women everywhere.”
That’s it for today, everyone. Thanks for reading! Our full story is here:
Updated
Anthony Rapp: ‘Justice has been done’
Anthony Rapp, who shared allegations of sexual assault against actor Kevin Spacey in 2017, told Variety he hopes the verdict leads to “more criminal prosecution of sexual misconduct, sexual assault and rape.” But he cautions, “I just know in general the law isn’t very friendly to these kinds of cases.”
Updated
Harvey Weinstein’s fall is fueling a cultural moment in Hollywood.
From books to tv shows to films — Harvey Weinstein is providing major inspiration to creatives, including the Oscar-nominated film Bombshell, Ronan Farrow’s non-fiction book Catch and Kill, and the loosely inspired film The Assistant.
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‘His reputation will never recover’
What does this mean for Weinstein’s legacy? Lucia Graves, columnist and features writer Guardian US, examines the dramatic rise and fall of one of Hollywood’s most powerful men.
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Actor Mariska Hargitay: ‘Ugliest behavior I have seen in the criminal justice system’
The star of the long-running crime drama Law and Order: SVU reacts on Twitter:
I join the survivor advocacy in having mixed emotions today. The Weinstein case represented some of the ugliest behavior I have seen in the criminal justice system. In fact, I am still reeling after some of the victim-blaming tactics used by the defense. 1/3
— Mariska Hargitay (@Mariska) February 24, 2020
Updated
Hello everyone,
André Wheeler, the west coast culture reporter for Guardian US, here. I’ll be covering the latest on Weinstein’s guilty verdict and reactions.
Updated
Activist Tarana Burke: ‘The implications reverberate far beyond Hollywood’
Tarana Burke, who first began using the phrase Me Too, said in a statement:
“... This case reminds us that sexual violence thrives on unchecked power and privilege. The implications reverberate far beyond Hollywood and into the daily lives of all of us in the rest of the world.
Whether you are an office worker, a nanny, an assistant, a cook, a factory worker— we all have to deal with the spectre of sexual violence derailing our lives...”
You can read Burke’s full statement here.
Updated
Summary
•Harvey Weinstein has been convicted of rape and faces up to 25 years in prison. The disgraced movie mogul was found guilty of a criminal sex act in the first degree and rape in the third degree by a New York jury.
•Following the verdict Weinstein was handcuffed and remanded into custody. He was booked into Rikers Island jail, in New York City, and will be held by the New York City department of corrections until his sentencing, on 11 March.
•Weinstein was acquitted on three charges, including the two most serious counts of predatory sexual assault – which carried a possible life sentence – and an alternative count of rape in the first degree.
•The producer’s attorneys said they would appeal the conviction, but Weinstein is facing further charges in LA. Los Angeles authorities have charged him with raping and sexually assaulting two women over a two-day period in February 2013.
Updated
'We pave the way for a more just culture' - Annabella Sciorra
Annabella Sciorra, who was party to the two predatory sexual assault charges against Weinstein, has released a statement saying those who spoke out against Weinstein have “pave[d] the way for a more just culture”.
“My testimony was painful but necessary. I spoke for myself and with the strength of the eighty plus victims of Harvey Weinstein in my heart,” Sciorra said.
“While we hope for continued righteous outcomes that bring absolute justice, we can never regret breaking the silence. For in speaking truth to power we pave the way for a more just culture, free of the scourge of violence against women.”
Sciorra alleged she was raped by Weinstein at some point in the winter of 1993 to 1994. She was not formally attached to the rape and sexual assault charges against Weinstein because the alleged rape occurred well before New York’s statute of limitations, but was the key witness addressing the predatory sexual assault charges that allege that Weinstein engaged in a pattern of violent and abusive behavior over many years.
The jury struggled with Sciorra’s testimony, spending days deliberating on it as indicated by questions the jurors asked to the judge. In the end, the jury unanimously decided that they could not convict Weinstein on the basis of her testimony beyond a reasonable doubt, and Weinstein was found not guilty on the predatory sexual assault charges.
Zoe Brock, a writer and designer from New Zealand who was one of the first to speak up about Weinstein in 2017, told the Guardian by phone that she was “fluctuating between hysterical laughing and weeping”.
“I’m in deep profound shock and joy at the verdict,” said Brock, who has been a vocal advocate against Weinstein since the story first broke.
“This changes everything for sexual assault victims all over the world. It proves that [Weinstein’s lawyers] can no longer victim shame and blame and treat women on the stand as the guilty party and get away with it. It proves you can be in a consensual relationship with someone and still be raped.”
Brock became emotional reflecting on the jury’s decision.
“I owe them everything,” she said. “They were evolved enough and listening enough and hearing our stories to understand that this stuff is complicated. That in the wake of trauma, we do complicated things. That there is no perfect victim.”
Brock added: “The world has changed for our daughters. People are going to be believed now.”
I just talked to Zoe Brock, one of the first to speak up about Harvey Weinstein in 2017:
— Sam Levin (@SamTLevin) February 24, 2020
"It proves you can no longer victim shame and treat women on the stand as guilty and get away with it. It proves you can be in a consensual relationship and still be raped."
Brock had been mentally preparing for an acquittal, she said.
“This is so validating. I remember thinking if he got off how difficult it was going to be to walk down the street. It would’ve said, ‘We don’t believe you.’ That was going to be really just heartbreaking and shameful. I’m really relieved I don’t have to feel that way.”
Brock added that she hoped Weinstein faced more convictions in the upcoming Los Angeles trial.
“I hope every woman who suffered at the hands of Harvey Weinstein gets a rightful verdict,” she said.
Here’s a video round-up of today’s events:
CNN has reported more detail on Weinstein’s medical complaints. His attorneys appealed to the judge for Weinstein to be kept in the jail infirmary.
“He’s dealing with the remnants of his back operation which was not successful. He’s in need of the walker. He takes a list of different medicines. Judge, he’s currently receiving shots in his eyes so he does not go blind,” CNN reported Weinstein’s attorney as saying.
“As we believe putting him in custody at this point before he can get some of the issues taken care of and proper documentation of them would not only put Mr Weinstein in danger, but the New York penal institution also because they will have to care for him and be responsible for these issues.”
Weinstein has been booked into Rikers Island jail in New York City.
The NYC department of corrections website lists Weinstein’s next court appearance date as March 11 – when he will be sentenced – and has Weinstein as 5’11 and 210lbs.
Weinstein has been given the ID number 06581138Z.
Here’s a clip of Weinstein’s former assistant Zelda Perkins speaking in 2017.
"I don't think he's a sex addict. He's a power addict"
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) February 24, 2020
In 2017, in her first TV interview, Harvey Weinstein's former assistant, Zelda Perkins, spoke out about her former boss
WATCH: https://t.co/Bb3GI8SYMb#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/dprpB8O5Vk
Perkins left Miramax in 1998 after her assistant alleged she had been raped by Weinstein. Speaking to the Guardian in 2018, Perkins said:
On going to lawyers [Perkins and her assistant] were told, to our horror, that our only realistic option was to make a damages claim and enter into an agreement. They told me it wasn’t worth considering going to court. It became increasingly apparent that this had little to do with justice and everything to do with money and power. I had presumed the law was above all men, but the disparity of my position and Harvey’s trumped whatever he had done; the ensuing legal process ultimately broke my belief in the core values of our culture. That is more seismic than having your belief broken in one individual.
Miramax was represented by one of the most powerful “magic circle” law firms on the globe, Allen & Overy. Even though the allegations were of a serious criminal nature, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) was negotiated that, as far as I can see, was wholly unethical. The agreement includes things that were legally extraordinary. Under its terms, my colleague and I would not be able to speak to a doctor, counsellor or accountant about what had happened, without them also signing an NDA, which we would be held accountable to if they broke it. The most sinister of these clauses stipulated that I was to use my “best endeavours” not to disclose anything in a civil or criminal case brought against Weinstein. In other words, I was to keep quiet, whatever the circumstances, for ever.
Updated
A spokesman for disgraced comedian Bill Cosby has weighed in on the Weinstein conviction, claiming it is “a very sad day in the American judicial system” in a somewhat confusing statement.
In 2018 Cosby was sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004. More than 60 women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct.
Bill Cosby’s spokesman issues statement on Harvey Weinstein conviction: “This is a very sad day in the American Judicial System.” pic.twitter.com/jGopKDVdqp
— Mike Sisak (@mikesisak) February 24, 2020
Lawyers for some of the witnesses against Weinstein spoke outside the courthouse after the movie mogul was taken into custody.
“It will no longer be acceptable in court for anyone to argue that women who were victimized by sexual predators brought it on themselves because they wanted to advance in their careers,” said Debra Katz, an attorney for one of the victims who testified as a “prior bad acts” witness to the predatory sexual assault counts.
Katz was also one of the main lawyers representing Dr Christine Blasey Ford when she brought her accusations against supreme court justice Brett Kavanugh during his nomination process in 2018.
“The #MeToo movement has educated us all of how pervasive this kind of behavior is and how unacceptable it is. Today, the jury put an exclamation point on that in the most significant way possible.”
Gloria Allred, who represented Miriam Haley, one of the main witnesses in the case, hallmarked the case as one that proves the #MeToo movement is changing the criminal justice system.
“We still have a long way to go for women in the criminal justice system, but it’s also a message to those who would hurt women. It’s no longer going to be business as usual,” Allred said.
One of Weinstein’s accusers, Ambra Guterriez, who did not testify in the trial but whose story was one that broke the dam of accusations against Weinstein, said that she was in the room when the verdict was delivered.
“I was jumping for joy. This really is the outcome I was wishing for,” Guterriez said. “This is what we have to do to demonstrate that we’re moving in the right direction. It’s a start.”
Meanwhile, Arthur Aidala, one of Weinstein’s defense lawyers, told reporters that the evidence in the case “wasn’t overpowering”, as proven by how long the jury deliberated on a verdict. “
“There’s no doubt in my mind that if his name was Harvey Jones or Harold Jones, he would have not even been charged on this evidence,” Aidala said.
Aidala said that Weinstein was telling him when the verdict was delivered. “I’m innocent. I didn’t rape anyone.”
Aidala said the team plans to appeal the jury’s verdict.
Updated
Weinstein to face separate charges in Los Angeles – report
Ronan Farrow, whose journalism was crucial in shedding light on the Weinstein case, has just reported that prosecutors in Los Angeles will proceed with charges there against Weinstein.
New: Los Angeles prosecutors are moving forward with their separate case against Weinstein—which could include a more expansive group of witnesses and lead to greater sentencing exposure. Paul Thompson, the LA Deputy District Attorney, tells me: “We are definitely proceeding.”
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) February 24, 2020
It had been unclear whether the case against Weinstein in Los Angeles would proceed.
Updated
In finding Weinstein guilty of rape in the third degree, and acquitting him of rape in the first degree, the jury made a nuanced judgment about the nature of the sexual attack that the fallen movie mogul made on one of the key accusers in this trial.
We are not naming the woman, who was an aspiring actor at the time of the assault, because her wishes about identification are not clear.
The witness gave a very distressing account in court of how she was taken by the film producer up to his hotel room at the Doubletree hotel in midtown Manhattan in March 2013. There he blocked her into the room, made her undress and then raped her, she said.
The jury was offered a choice, should it find the witness’s account convincing, of how it could classify the attack in counts 4 and 5 of the charge sheet. Count 4 was rape in the first degree and count 5 rape in the third degree.
Confused already?
Well, to find Weinstein guilty of raping the woman in the first degree, that would mean that the jurors found that he had sex without her consent by using “forcible compulsion” – either physically forcing himself on her or making her submit through a violent threat.
In the end, the jury opted for the alternative definition – rape in the third degree. This still involves penetrating the woman without her consent, but it does not contain the “forcible compulsion” component.
The distinction, which seems almost pedantic on paper – how can you have sex without consent that doesn’t involve some form of forcible compulsion? – could have a big impact on sentencing. Rape in the third degree, of which Weinstein was convicted, has no minimum sentence and an upper limit of only four years.
Rape in the first degree, by contrast, of which he was acquitted, has a minimum sentence of five years and could have seen Weinstein put away for 25 years.
Having said that, the other count of which he was found guilty – forcing oral sex on Miriam Haley – also has a top limit of 25 years, so he is still looking at what could be a very long stretch in prison.
Updated
The #MeToo movement has released a statement following the Weinstein verdict.
“Today, a jury confirmed what we all know: Harvey Weinstein committed sexual assault. This wouldn’t have been possible without the voices of the silence breakers in and outside of the courtroom, the survivors who courageously testified, and the jurors who, despite an unrelenting and unethical defense strategy, voted to find an unremorseful Harvey Weinstein guilty,” the statement said.
“For some, this has been a Hollywood battle between famous actresses and a larger-than-life producer. Some, have tired and begun to ask whether we should care about these Hollywood celebrities.
“We would do well to ask ourselves how many of these women’s names we can actually remember, beyond the boldface few? Certainly, Harvey’s name will be seared in our collective memories, but many of the survivors will be quietly taking stock of the impact.”
The statement continues:
How many careers were derailed? How many entry-level assistants were fired or silenced? How many jobs were lost? How many news stories, that could have exposed Harvey sooner, were censored? How many people could have spoken up, but didn’t? All in the name of protecting a violent sexual predator.
This case reminds us that sexual violence thrives on unchecked power and privilege. The implications reverberate far beyond Hollywood and into the daily lives of all of us in the rest of the world.
Whether you are an office worker, a nanny, an assistant, a cook, a factory worker – we all have to deal with the spectre of sexual violence derailing our lives.
And, though today a man has been found guilty, we have to wonder whether anyone will care about the rest of us tomorrow. This is why we say #MeToo.
Updated
Lauren Aratani is at court in New York City:
Crazy moment outside the Weinstein trial when Weinstein’s defense team told the press that either they or attorney Gloria Allred, who represented one of the main witnesses in the trial, would speak. They left when Allred refused to step away from the mics. pic.twitter.com/nKmrgtzGIT
— Lauren Aratani (@LaurenAratani) February 24, 2020
Comment on the verdict has of course been pouring in.
Ronan Farrow, the reporter whose work did much to shed light on the Weinstein case, tweeted: “Today’s outcome … is the result of the decisions of multiple women to come forward to journalists and to prosecutors at great personal cost and risk. Please keep those women in your thoughts today.”
Here’s Emma Brockes’ interview with Farrow:
The actor Rosie Perez testified in the trial, describing calls with Annabella Sciorra, the actor who alleged she was raped by Weinstien in the early 1990s.
On Monday, in the original capitals, Perez tweeted: “HARVEY WEINSTEIN HAS BEEN HANDCUFFED & TAKEN TO JAIL! GUTTED FOR MY DEAR FRIEND #ANNABELLASCIORRA WHO TOLD THE TRUTH! YET I CONGRATULATE HER & ALL WHO CAME FORWARD FOR THEIR BRAVERY. THIS IS NOT ENOUGH BUT SURVIVORS TAKE COURAGE! THIS IS STILL A GREAT WIN! CONGRATS [prosecutor] JOAN ILLUZZI [-Orbon]!”
Elsewhere, the actor Elizabeth Banks also paid tribute to those who came forward in this case and others, writing: “I am heartened for his victims and for all those who said #Metoo and #TimesUp that some justice has been done.”
From Capitol Hill, the Minnesota Democratic representative Ilhan Omar wrote: “This is a victory for the brave survivors who spoke out against Weinstein. Our system so often silences survivors and delivers injustice, so we can’t let up in our fight to lift up survivors and hold predators who abuse their power fully accountable.”
Then there was this, from the director Judd Apatow:
Don’t forget – Harvey Weinstein faces four more charges in Los Angeles. This is just the beginning of holding him accountable.
Some further reading:
Lawyer Rotunno: Weinstein 'took it like a man'
Donna Rotunno, Weinstein’s lead lawyer, has also been talking to reporters outside court, promising an appeal and saying of her client, in a remark which may prove controversial: “He took it like a man.”
“Obviously, this is a bittersweet day,” Rotunno said. “We are disappointed. We knew we came in and we were down 35-0 on the day that we started this trial. The jurors came in knowing everything they could know about this case. We couldn’t find a juror who had never heard of Harvey Weinstein.”
Saying “the fight is not over”, the Chicago-based lawyer said: “It is absolutely horrible for me to watch my client be taken into custody. We don’t feel good about that at all.”
“Harvey is very strong,” she added. “Harvey is unbelievably strong. He took it like a man. He knows that we will continue to fight for him and knows that this is not over.”
As Ed Pilkington reported earlier, New York DA Cyrus Vance Jr had harsh words for Rotunno’s tactics towards witnesses in the trial. Ed’s mid-trial profile of Rotunno follows:
Cyrus Vance Jr, the New York district attorney who lead the prosecution, just held a press conference outside the courtroom.
He described Weinstein as “a vicious serial sexual predator who used his power to threaten, rape, assault, trick, humiliate and silence his victims”.
Vance lavished thanks on the women who testified, noting the sacrifices they made.
“Weinstein with his manipulation, his resources, his attorneys, his publicists and his spies did everything he could to silence the survivors,” he said. “But they wouldn’t be silenced, spoke from their hearts, and were heard.”
To say that today’s verdict comes as a bit of a relief to Vance is an understatement. In 2015 he was slammed when he decided not to prosecute Weinstein after a Filipina-Italian model, Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, reported to police that the movie mogul groped her without consent in his Tribeca office.
Vance would have been in very hot water if Weinstein had been acquitted on all counts today.
Vance had a stern message for Weinstein’s defense team, lead by the highly contentious Chicago lawyer Donna Rotunno, who approached the court proceedings as though it was #MeToo that was on trial and not her client. She even reduced one of the key witnesses – a woman the Guardian is not naming who alleged rape for which Weinstein was found guilty in the third degree today – to uncontrollable sobbing.
Vance said such age-old defense tactics of tearing into sexual assault accusers in the witness stand would no longer hold.
“I hope that after this verdict it will become more obvious that those kinds of attacks on survivors and victims will no longer work in this day and age,” he said. “It’s time that the defense stop using them.”
Here’s the Guardian’s profile of Rotunno, published during the trial:
The verdict today “marks a new era of justice”, said Tina Tchen, president and CEO of the Time’s Up foundation which works against workplace sexual misconduct.
“The jury’s verdict sends a powerful message to the world of just how much progress has been made since the Weinstein Silence Breakers ignited an unstoppable movement. In two short years, Time’s Up helped pass new laws to help survivors achieve justice, helped thousands of individuals take on harassers and abusers in court, and changed the game when it comes to how matters of safety and equity in the workplace are understood.
“While we celebrate this historic moment, our fight to fix the broken system that has allowed serial abusers like Harvey Weinstein to abuse women in the first place continues. Abusers everywhere and the powerful forces that protect them should be on notice: there’s no going back.”
Today is a victory for the #SilenceBreakers who refused to be silent about Weinstein, igniting a global reckoning.
— TIME'S UP (@TIMESUPNOW) February 24, 2020
It’s a victory for survivors everywhere - and for all those who believe in justice.
Read our full statement from @TinaTchen: https://t.co/EYePvrWJlI
Updated
Weinstein still facing trial in Los Angeles
Before he gets to lodge any appeal, Weinstein could face further legal jeopardy. Los Angeles authorities have charged him with raping and sexually assaulting two women over a two-day period in February 2013.
It remains to be seen whether those prosecutions will proceed or whether they will be allowed to wither now that he is certain to face prison time in New York. One of the two women in the LA case was a “prior bad acts” witness in New York – Lauren Young, who told the jury how Weinstein had groped her in a hotel bathroom in Beverly Hills in 2013.
Beyond Weinstein’s fate, several big questions are likely to rise up as a result of the verdict. In particular, how was it possible for a serial sex attacker to evade justice for so many years?
Books written by the Pulitzer-prize winning journalists who exposed Weinstein in 2017 – She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey of the New York Times, and Catch and Kill by the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow – outline an elaborate network of lawyers, private detectives and other paid advisers and assistants who worked diligently on the movie mogul’s behalf. These enablers repeatedly rallied to Weinstein’s cause, silencing his accusers and ensuring that for decades his wealth and power effectively rendered him untouchable.
Nobody is above the law, the truism says, but Harvey Weinstein was above the law for at least a quarter of a century. Until this week, when justice finally caught up with him.
Updated
The Manhattan district attorney, Cy Vance, held a press conference, where he praised the bravery of Weinstein’s victims.
“Harvey Weinstein has finally been held accountable for crimes he committed. The women who came forward courageously and at great risk made that happen,” Vance said.
“Weinstein is a vicious, serial, sexual predator who used his power to threaten, rape, assault, trick, humiliate and silence his victims.”
“Their verdict turned the page in our justice system on men like Harvey Weinstein”
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 24, 2020
Manhattan District Attorney, Cy Vance, says Weinstein faces 5 to 25 years in prison https://t.co/JgCNUUAZFT pic.twitter.com/hp6YI1TPxD
Updated
Weinstein faces up to 25 years in prison
Weinstein, 67, was found guilty of criminal sex act in the first degree for forcing oral sex on the former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006, a count which carries a minimum prison sentence of five years and a maximum of up to 25 years.
The count of rape also convicted Weinstein of rape in the third degree on another woman. That count carries a sentence of up to four years in prison.
Weinstein handcuffed and remanded into custody
We have just watched the extraordinary sight of Harvey Weinstein, the powerful of Hollywood who for a quarter of a century appeared above the law and invincible, being handcuffed and led by court officials hobbling out of the courtroom and off to jail.
He said nothing as he was being taken away, but for a man who looked ashen-faced through much of this six-weeks trial he looked even more pale than usual.
In the end the result came sharp and fast. We’ve been sitting in the court for five days, in a funk of waiting. Then in a sudden flurry, the jury was brought in, the foreman stood up, and there it was – the two guilty verdicts relating to Weinstein’s sex attack on a former production assistant Miriam Haley and rape of a woman we are not naming as her desires over identification aren’t clear.
It was one of those moments that after so much anticipation, so much riding on it, was almost uncannily quiet and calm. Just that word, “guilty”, resounding in court room 99.
At the end of it all, the seven men and five women of the jury looked mightily pleased it was over as they filed out of the court.
Weinstein didn’t look so happy.
Updated
Weinstein has been remanded into custody ahead of his sentencing.
The disgraced movie mogul was handcuffed after the verdict, and will be sentenced on 11 March.
Weinstein’s lawyers have requested that he be kept in a jail infirmary while awaiting sentencing, and the judge said he would pass on the request.
Weinstein has been using a walker as he has arrived in court; his lawyers say this is due to injuries sustained in a car crash over the summer.
Updated
Weinstein faced five charges in the trial. Here are all the charges – Weinstein was convicted on count 2 and count 5.
Count 1: Predatory sexual assault which involves sex crimes against at least two victims, in this count relating to former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley and former Sopranos actor Annabella Sciorra. The charge carries a maximum sentence life in prison and a minimum sentence of 10 years.
Count 2: Criminal sex act in the first degree for forcing oral sex on Miriam Haley which carries a maximum sentence 25 years and a minimum sentence 5 years.
Count 3: In this count relating to a woman whom the Guardian has decided not to name and Annabella Sciorra. This charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a minimum sentence of 10 years.
Count 4: First-degree rape of the victim the Guardian has decided not to name which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years and a minimum sentence of five years.
Count 5: Third-degree rape of the victim the Guardian has decided not to name which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison and no minimum, though a conviction would require Weinstein to register as a sex offender.
Weinstein’s epic fall from grace is now complete, toppled from the pinnacle of independent cinema where he helmed films such as Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love, amassing a total of 81 Oscars. The glamorous Manhattan and Los Angeles lifestyle he once enjoyed will soon be replaced by a New York state prison cell as he faces jail time.
The jury of seven men and five women at the New York supreme court took five days to reach their verdict.
The conviction marks the final comeuppance for a towering figure who wielded his power in the movie industry – as well as his commanding physical presence – over vulnerable young women seeking his help.
Though Judge James Burke cautioned the jury not to see the case as a referendum on #MeToo, Weinstein’s conviction is certain to have far-reaching consequences for gender relations in the workplace, in Hollywood and far beyond. The world of powerful men who deploy their seniority as tools of sexual control is much less secure in its wake.
Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty in his sexual assault trial in New York City.
The Hollywood movie mogul was found guilty of criminal sex act, and rape in the third degree involving two different women.
The jury spent five days weighing the charges against Weinstein before it returned its verdict on Monday morning.
Weinstein was found not guilty on the most serious charge he faced: predatory sexual assault, which could have resulted in a life sentence.
Updated
