Manhattan D.A. moving closer to criminal charges against Harvey Weinstein
The Manhattan district attorney’s office is expected to begin presenting evidence to a grand jury in the coming weeks that could result in movie mogul Harvey Weinstein being indicted for sex crimes.
Manhattan Dist. Atty. Cyrus R. Vance will begin the process of seeking the indictment against the producer in connection with the accusations, including those by an actress who said she was raped by Weinstein in 2010, according to a source familiar with ongoing criminal investigations not authorized to comment. The investigation is in the early stages.
Actress Paz de la Huerta publicly identified herself in an Oct. 25 complaint to the New York Police Department as the woman who reported being raped by Weinstein in 2010.
A spokeswoman for Vance’s office said, “We are not commenting on the investigation or any timeline.”
The developments come just days after the NYPD chief of detectives said at a news conference that the actress’s accusations of rape were credible and corroborated, but that detectives are still gathering more evidence.
It could take a couple of weeks before a grand jury makes a decision on whether to indict Weinstein, co-founder of Weinstein Co. As of last week, Weinstein was in rehabilitation in Arizona. WNBC-TV first broke the news of the pending actions by Vance’s office.
Weinstein representative Sallie Hofmeister has repeatedly said that Weinstein “unequivocally denies allegations of nonconsensual sex.”
Meanwhile, in Britain, police continue to widen their investigations into the movie mogul.
Another woman has reported to authorities that Weinstein sexually assaulted her, London’s Metropolitan Police said Tuesday. She is the eighth woman in Britain who has accused Weinstein of sexual assault.
The accuser made the report Oct. 31, saying Weinstein assaulted her overseas in 1991, police said. They said Scotland Yard detectives have provided details of the accusation to the jurisdiction where the woman said she was attacked. They did not specify the location.
The woman’s identity was not made public.
Tuesday’s announcement comes after the New Yorker published an article saying Weinstein hired private investigators and former Israeli spies last year to dig up information on his accusers and on journalists trying to make their allegations public.
In the last month, Weinstein has faced a plethora of public allegations from several dozen women accusing him of sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape spanning four decades. At least 14 have filed sexual assault reports with police in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, New York and London.
De la Huerta has said she told New York police that Weinstein raped her twice in 2010. The “Boardwalk Empire” actress gave a detailed account to Vanity Fair, published Thursday.
Vance’s office in 2015 declined to charge Weinstein after accusations were made that he groped model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez. The model wore a wire for NYPD detectives to another meeting with Weinstein. In a recorded conversation, Weinstein is heard asking her to his hotel room and apparently admitting that he previously groped her. “I won’t do it again,” he says.
Despite the recording, Vance said his office did not have enough evidence to prove the case, although he recently called the accusations sickening.
Since a New York Times article Oct. 5 first revealed allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein, accusations and condemnations have engulfed him. Weinstein Co. fired him last month. He also has been expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Producers Guild of America and the Television Academy.
Actresses Asia Argento, Rose McGowan, Lucia Evans and Lysette Anthony have all publicly stated that Weinstein raped them or forced them to perform a sex act.
In Los Angeles, police are investigating an Italian model-actress’s allegation that Weinstein forced her to have sex with him in her hotel room in 2013. It is the first case related to Weinstein to be reported to police in Southern California.
Last week, the Los Angeles Police Department said it was investigating allegations made by a second woman. A department spokesman did not provide details about the claims but said the incident occurred in 2013. The LAPD described the reported behavior as lewd conduct.
Beverly Hills police have opened at least two investigations into Weinstein. They did not provide details of the investigations but urged any potential victims to come forward.
Twitter: @lacrimes
UPDATES:
1:55 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details on pending action by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
This article was originally published at 11:35 a.m.
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