New York – Film producer Harvey Weinstein surrendered to New York City police on Friday on charges of rape and sex abuse, months after he was toppled from Hollywood’s most powerful ranks by scores of women accusing him of misconduct.
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More than 70 women have accused the co-founder of the Miramax film studio and Weinstein Co of sexual misconduct, including rape, with some allegations dating back decades.
The accusations, first reported by the New York Times and the New Yorker last year, gave rise to the #MeToo movement in which hundreds of women have publicly accused powerful men in business, government and entertainment of misconduct.
Weinstein is charged with rape, sexual misconduct, sex abuse and the committing of a criminal sex act against two women, the New York Police Department said in a statement, which did not identify the women.
Weinstein, 66, has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.
Weinstein gave a weak smile as he arrived at the station house at about 7:25 a.m. EDT (1125 GMT) wearing a dark jacket over a blue sweater and white open-collared shirt and dark jeans.
He carried thick books under his right arm, including what appeared to be biographies of the Broadway musical duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and Elia Kazan, the director of such classic Hollywood films as “On the Waterfront” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
Police officers escorted Weinstein inside a lower Manhattan police station as scores of journalists pushed up against barricades for pictures and video, while three helicopters hovered overhead. He is due to appear later in the morning for arraignment at a Manhattan courthouse where a judge is expected to release him on bail, according to media reports.
Weinstein is expected to be charged with raping one woman and forcing another to perform oral sex on him, the Times reported, citing unidentified law enforcement officials.
Weinstein’s spokesman Juda Engelmayer and his lawyer Benjamin Brafman both declined to comment to Reuters on Thursday on the imminent charges.
The charges follow a months-long investigation that involved the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
The victim in the rape case has not been identified, the Times reported, but Weinstein will be charged with first-degree and third-degree rape. The other case involves allegations by Lucia Evans, a former aspiring actress who told the New Yorker that Weinstein forced her to give him oral sex in 2004, the Times reported.
Entertainment industry heavyweights have distanced themselves from Weinstein since the accusations became public. The board of the Weinstein Co fired him and the company filed for bankruptcy in March.
This individual is one sick sexual pervert, along with Anthony Weiner, Eric Schneidermann, Dustin Hoffman, and the former President of Israel, who is still in jail on similar charges. A shanda!
Another Hollywood Holier Than Thou Liberal going to the slammer.
he lives a life of tuma gaiva and power but he is also innocent until proven guilty and is reaping the repercussions of such ill gotten power. these allegations are just that. the actresses that are coming out in droves are has-beens who need to be relevant today. why did they not file anything against him then??! it is my belief that it will be proven that his purported nonconsensual acts were indeed consensual. anybody with half-wits can conclude that these shiksas used him to advance in their careers. c’mon!!
sadly he is a yid, and anti semitism will only skyrocket as this media circus unfolds
To #3 and #4 - Both of you are misguided fools, who are essentially blaming the victims, in this case, “the shiksas”. You just can’t accept the fact, that Weinstein is a demented sexual pervert, no different than Bill Cosby, who was recently found guilty. He used his power to dominate those young women, and to satisfy his sexual lust. I hope that he is found guilty, loses his appeals, and spends the rest of his miserable, perverted life, behind bars, where he belongs. Incidentally, there are thousands of other men who work around very attractive women, but don’t go around raping them.
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It’s hard to believe these female adults claiming to be victims.
Where were they all these years. If it would be minors I totally understand the fear, but not adults.