Resumption of rape trial against Harvey Weinstein in Manhattan

A new grand jury has brought additional charges against Harvey Weinstein, prosecutors said in a New York courtroom on Thursday.

“We informed the defense immediately prior to our court appearance this morning that the grand jury had indicted Mr. Weinstein,” said Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg.

His lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told Deadline that prosecutors believe there may be three new criminal charges filed against his client in 2005, 2006 and 2016. However, he did not provide further details.

Weinstein did not appear in court because he had not received medical clearance following emergency heart surgery a few days earlier.

Aidala told Judge Curtis Farber today that his client “almost died” before his emergency heart surgery on Sunday. Earlier this week, a producer told Deadline that the producer was in “very bad shape.” Additionally, Weinstein is said to be in “critical condition,” Deadline was told.

The new indictment will remain under seal for the time being, Blumberg said, and the prosecutor plans to file a motion to consolidate all charges into a new indictment.

Weinstein’s next court hearing is scheduled for September 18. There is no date yet for the new charges.

Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison after a Manhattan jury found the former studio chief guilty in 2020 of raping actress Jessica Mann and sexually assaulting production assistant Miriam Haley. A panel of New York appeals judges overturned his conviction in April, ruling 4-3 that prosecutors had erred in allowing testimony from other Weinstein accusers whose charges were not being tried.

The Manhattan district attorney reportedly wanted Weinstein to be indicted by a grand jury for crimes against other women in addition to Mann and Haley. Weinstein has also appealed his sexual assault conviction and 16-year prison sentence in a separate Los Angeles case.

The ailing Weinstein was moved from an upstate prison after winning the appeal and shuttled between the city’s Rikers Island jail, Bellevue Hospital and a courtroom in Lower Manhattan as District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office prepared to reopen his case.

Judge Farber also ordered today that Weinstein remain in the jail unit at Bellevue Hospital and not be transferred back to Rikers Island, citing defense complaints about his treatment at the jail’s hospital.

“He is not doing well,” Weinstein spokesman Juda Engelmayer told reporters this morning.

More than 80 women from all levels of the film industry have come forward to accuse Weinstein of rape and assault during and after the height of the MeToo movement, which denounced powerful men in entertainment, politics and business for their exploitative behavior.

Weinstein settled with dozens of plaintiffs during his film company’s bankruptcy proceedings. He still faces a handful of lawsuits, including one filed last year by actress Julia Ormond under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which extends the statute of limitations on lawsuits brought by alleged victims of sexual assault. Weinstein has denied any wrongdoing in all of the civil and criminal cases against him.