Category Archives: Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein: what does ruling mean for California rape conviction?

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Mogul’s lawyers say decision in New York will strengthen appeal in Los Angeles but victims confident guilty verdict will be upheld

Harvey Weinstein was already expected to spend the remainder of his life in prison for crimes in New York when a Los Angeles jury found him of guilty of rape and sexual assault in 2022 and he was sentenced to an additional 16 years.

But on Thursday New York’s top court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for two sex crimes and found he should receive a new trial, and the California case has taken on even greater significance.

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Harvey Weinstein tried to bully me, reveals Joseph Fiennes

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The Handmaid’s Tale actor says the disgraced movie mogul threatened to end his Hollywood career

Joseph Fiennes, star of the television series The Handmaid’s Tale and of the 1998 hit movie, Shakespeare in Love, has explained why he turned down the chance to play major roles in a run of Hollywood blockbusters early in his career.

It was, he said, a reaction to bullying pressure put on him by Harvey Weinstein, who wanted to take control of his life, and Fiennes does not regret the decision.

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Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 16 additional years for LA rape conviction

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Disgraced producer was previously convicted of rape and sexual assault in New York and is serving a 23-year term

Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 16 additional years in prison on Thursday, three months after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles.

The disgraced film producer, whose pattern of predatory behavior galvanized the #MeToo movement, was previously convicted of rape and sexual assault in New York in 2020 and is currently serving a 23-year prison term. The new sentence nearly doubles the 70-year-old producer’s remaining prison time.

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Harvey Weinstein’s sentencing on Los Angeles rape conviction delayed

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Ex-film mogul faces up to 18 additional years in prison after being convicted of forcibly raping a woman in California

Harvey Weinstein’s sentencing on his second rape and sexual assault conviction in Los Angeles has been delayed until February, as his lawyers ask for a new trial.

Winstein, 70, faces up to 18 additional years in prison after being convicted of forcibly raping a woman in California in 2013. He is already serving a 23-year prison sentence after being convicted of rape and sexual assault charges in New York in 2020.

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Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles trial

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The downfall of the former movie magnate played out over a six-week trial that included testimony from Jennifer Siebel Newsom

A Los Angeles jury has found Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault, five years after dozens of women spoke out against the Hollywood producer and galvanized the #MeToo movement.

After more than nine days of deliberation, the jury convicted Weinstein of three counts of rape and sexual assault against one woman, a European model and actor who testified anonymously as “Jane Doe 1”, while remaining divided on three other charges of rape and sexual assault by two other accusers, including Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California’s governor. Weinstein was also acquitted of a sexual battery allegation made by a fourth woman.

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Weinstein trial: prosecutor says ‘hotels were his trap’ in closing arguments

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Six-week Los Angeles trial wrapping up after graphic testimony from four women accusing ex-producer of rape and sexual assault

Closing arguments began on Wednesday in the Los Angeles rape trial of Harvey Weinstein, following weeks of emotional testimony that saw multiple women take the stand, including the wife of California’s governor.

Marlene Martinez, a prosecutor in the case, began her final arguments with a photograph of Weinstein smirking at the camera, at the height of his power as a “titan of the film industry”. Seated in the courtroom, Weinstein, looking shrunken and pale as a corpse, stared at the photograph of himself on the screen.

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Harvey Weinstein accuser testifies she wanted to ‘destroy’ herself after assault

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The woman alleges the producer raped her in 2013 and is the first of eight witnesses providing testimony during the trial

A woman who accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her in 2013 testified on Tuesday that the attack left her wanting to “destroy” herself.

The woman, a model and actor living and working in Rome who was in Los Angeles at the time for a film festival, is the first of eight Weinstein accusers set to testify in a courtroom in Los Angeles where the 70-year-old movie mogul is on trial on multiple counts of rape and sexual assault.

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Mel Gibson can testify in Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial, judge says

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Actor and director was one of many witnesses whose identities were revealed in Los Angeles superior court

Mel Gibson can testify about what he learned from one of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers, a judge ruled on Friday in the rape and sexual assault trial of the disgraced movie mogul.

The 66-year-old actor and director was one of many witnesses whose identities were revealed in Los Angeles superior court. The judge and attorneys had taken a break from jury selection for motions on what evidence will be allowed and who can testify. The witness list is sealed.

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New Weinstein trial to begin in Los Angeles, five years after bombshell reports

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Disgraced producer, already poised to spend life in prison, faces 11 additional sexual assault charges

Five years after the bombshell reports that ended his career, the disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein will go on trial in Los Angeles on Monday over a series of alleged sexual assaults involving five different women.

It’s the second trial of the former Hollywood titan, who has been incarcerated since February 2020 when he was convicted of sexual assault and rape in proceedings in New York.

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Salma Hayek: ‘Weinstein would scream at me, I didn’t hire you to look ugly’

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The actor talks about being bullied by the disgraced movie mogul, marrying a billionaire and becoming a superhero at 55

Salma Hayek is dreadfully jetlagged, which is one of the perils of having homes around the world and frequently hopping between them. “Let me tell you about my craziness,” she says by video chat from her home in west London. “I’m here for less than a week, then I go back [to the US] for five days for my husband’s work, then I come back here for my work, then I go back to LA because I’m getting a star on the Hollywood Boulevard! It’s crazy,” she says. After this interview she has a fitting for dresses for various movie premieres.

“We’re just making it up as we go along!” she says in exasperation at her crazy life. Despite the craziness, she looks impeccable in a Gucci dress (“As comfortable as your sweats!”), framed by the enormous mirrored painting behind her. “It’s by [Takashi] Murakami,” she says casually of one of the most expensive living artists. She blows a kiss to her husband, François-Henri Pinault, as he leaves the house. Pinault is the CEO of the fashion conglomerate Kering, which is behind labels such as Gucci, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and many others. The Pinault family wealth is estimated at $49bn. It’s crazy.

“No to me taking a shower with him. No to letting him watch me take a shower. No to letting him give me a massage. No to letting a naked friend of his give me a massage. No to letting him give me oral sex. No to my getting naked with another woman. No no no no no … And with every refusal came Harvey’s Machiavellian rage.”

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Harvey Weinstein PA says abusers still have the legal power to silence victims

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Outrage ensued when Zelda Perkins revealed her non-disclosure agreement in 2017 but the expected reforms never came

In the weeks after she first broke her non-disclosure agreement, Zelda Perkins, Harvey Weinstein’s former personal assistant, felt dizzy with optimism.

After an appearance on Newsnight in 2017, in which she spoke publicly about the oppressive non-disclosure agreement (NDA) she had been silenced by as a 24-year-old two decades earlier, Perkins found herself feted in parliament. The end of the use of NDAs as a means to cover up abuse was, she thought, in sight.

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Angelina Jolie: ‘I just want my family to heal’

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The actor opens up about why her divorce from Brad Pitt is a human rights issue, escaping Harvey Weinstein and what young activists have taught her

• ‘People try to stop us speaking up’ – Jolie meets inspirational young campaigners

Angelina Jolie sits at a desk, back straight as a rule and rather regal. Her features are cartoonishly beautiful – straight black hair, vertiginous cheekbones, huge blue eyes and lips like a plumped red sofa. She is talking on Zoom to four young activists. It is a horribly apt day to be discussing human rights – the Taliban has just captured Ghazni city on its approach to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

If this were a movie, you might suspect Jolie was playing a divine leader addressing the fortunate few. Yet it soon becomes apparent that things aren’t quite as they seem. The actor and film director is the one in awe, not the activists. The young people talk about the work they have done raising awareness of the carnage in Syria, the environmental crisis, trans rights and food poverty. Jolie hangs on their every word. She tells them they have inspired her children who follow their work, warns them against burnout, apologises for the failings of her generation and says how honoured she is to meet them.

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Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault in LA trial

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The convicted rapist is serving a 23-year prison term in New York and now faces the possibility of another sentence in California

Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday to four counts of rape and seven other sexual assault counts.

The 69-year-old convicted rapist appeared in court in a wheelchair. He was wearing a brown jail jumpsuit and face mask. Attorney Mark Werksman entered the plea a day after Weinstein was extradited to California from New York, where he was serving a 23-year prison term.

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Harvey Weinstein to be extradited to California for sexual assault charges

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Judge said there was no reason to delay transfer any longer and denied lawyer’s request to keep him at a state prison in New York

Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein will be extradited to California after a New York judge’s approval, where he faces additional sexual assault charges.

The extradition order ends a legal fight, prolonged by the pandemic, the defense’s concerns about Weinstein’s failing health, and a squabble over paperwork.

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Harvey Weinstein indicted on sexual assault charges in California

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Former film producer, who is currently incarcerated in New York, faces possible extradition for alleged attacks on five women

Harvey Weinstein has been indicted in California on sexual assault charges, one of his lawyers said on Monday, as the former film producer appeared in a New York court proceeding over whether to extradite him.

The 69-year-old Weinstein appeared by video from the Wende correctional facility, near Buffalo, before a judge on the Erie county court.

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Why we need to take bad sex more seriously

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Consent has been portrayed as the cure for all the ills of our sexual culture. But what if the injunction to ‘know what you want’ is another form of coercion?

Sometime in the early 2010s, the porn actor James Deen made a film with a fan whom he called Girl X. He would do this now and then; fans would write to him, wanting to have sex with him, or he would put out a call to “Do a Scene with James Deen”, and the results would go up on his website.

In an interview in May 2017, only a few months before the media would be overwhelmed with discussions of assault and harassment by Harvey Weinstein and others – and only two years after Deen himself was accused of (but not charged with) multiple assaults (which he denied) – he said: “I have a ‘Do a scene with James Deen’ contest, where women can submit an application, and then, after a very long talk and months of me saying, you know, ‘Everyone’s going to find out, it’s going to affect your future’, and trying to talk them out of it kind of, then we shoot a scene.”

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Weinstein Co to pay out $17m over sexual abuse claims as part of liquidation

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Bankruptcy judge rejects objections from some of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers seeking to pursue further claims

A US bankruptcy court judge has approved the Weinstein Co’s liquidation plan, which sets aside $17m for women who accused co-founder Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct.

Judge Mary Walrath, presiding over a remote hearing from Wilmington, Delaware, overruled an objection from a handful of women who have been looking to pursue appeals of their claims outside the bankruptcy court.

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Zelda Perkins: ‘There will always be men like Weinstein. All I can do is try to change the system that enables them’

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When she was just 24 and her colleague was attacked by Harvey Weinstein, Perkins took on the media mogul. She explains the impact of this year’s verdict and why she is still fighting against the non disclosure agreements that kept his crimes being revealed

For more than 20 years, Zelda Perkins had known that the film producer Harvey Weinstein was a sexual predator, though not the scale of his abuse. This year, Weinstein was finally convicted of rape; in March, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. Perkins was “blown away”.

Perkins was not one of the women Weinstein assaulted, but her colleague was. Instead, Perkins became – as a naive but furious 24-year-old assistant – one of the few people brave enough to stand up to the rich, powerful man known for his bullying and ability to make or break careers.

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Ethan Hawke on regrets, race and surviving Hollywood: ‘River Phoenix was a big lesson to me’

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Hawke could have been a superstar to rival Leonardo DiCaprio or Matt Damon. But, as he turns 50, the actor is thinking more about the dangers he avoided than the opportunities he turned down

“Do you mind if I do something not attractive?” Ethan Hawke asks. In a vintage T-shirt, with his hair in a half-ponytail, he looks every inch the artsy Brooklyn dad that he is. “I’m starving. Would it be very rude if I eat lunch? I’ll try to be neat and orderly about it.” We’re talking by video chat and I tell him I’ll forgive his lunch if he forgives the noise of kids and dogs in my background. “Never apologise for kids. My two younger ones are Zoom schooling now, so I’m hiding in my office where the dogs are, so we’re even,” he says, tucking into his takeaway.

On the day of our interview, Hawke’s 50th birthday is a week away; if that makes those of us who remember him as a smooth-cheeked schoolboy in Dead Poets Society feel old, imagine how Hawke feels. “Forty-nine sounds a lot younger than 50,” he says with self-mocking mournfulness. Will he celebrate? “My older kids are coming over, so I’ll do a dinner with the six of us, which is about as much fun as we can have these days,” he says.

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