After being found guilty of rape and sexual assault in California, Harvey Weinstein will know this Monday the sentence resulting from his trial.
Disgraced ex-Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein will be set Monday in Los Angeles on the sentence stemming from his second rape trial, which could jeopardize his hopes of ever regaining his freedom.
The 70-year-old former “king” of cinema was convicted in December in the California megalopolis of rape and two sexual assaults, and faces up to 18 additional years in prison for these crimes.
In 2020, he had already been sentenced to 23 years in prison for similar acts during a trial in New York. After having suffered several refusals, he however obtained in August the authorization to appeal this conviction.
Claiming his “innocence”, he has already announced his intention to appeal the verdict in Los Angeles.
Accused by 90 women
Harvey Weinstein, who produced award-winning films like ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘The Artist’, fell from his pedestal after press inquiries in 2017 accused him of being a sexual ‘predator’ in Hollywood.
These revelations had launched #MeToo, a global movement for the liberation of women’s voices on gender-based and sexual violence.
In total, nearly 90 women, including actresses Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosanna Arquette, have accused him of harassment, sexual assault or rape. But the statute of limitations has been exceeded in many of these cases, some dating back to 1977.
The California case involved four women, including Jennifer Siebel-Newsom, wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
An “ogre” with “a stranglehold on Hollywood”
During four weeks of hearings, they accused the producer in great detail of forcing them to have sex in hotels in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013.
The prosecution has portrayed Harvey Weinstein as an ogre whose stranglehold on Hollywood – the films he produced have received more than 330 Oscar nominations and 81 statuettes – has long kept his victims from speaking out for fear of career repercussions .
The defense denied any coercion, ensuring that it was a consensual and mutually beneficial relationship, while insisting on the lack of material evidence.
After two weeks of deliberation, jurors returned a mixed verdict: they found Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault on one of the plaintiffs, acquitted him on another and split for the last two, including Jennifer Siebel-Newson.
The ex-producer is also charged in the United Kingdom for sexual assaults which date back to 1996.
