Harvey Weinstein Turns Himself in to NYPD, Charged With Rape and Pleads Not Guilty — Next Court Date in July
Update (10:20am ET): Weinstein has surrendered his passport to show authorities he is not a flight risk. He is also being fitted with a monitoring GPS device that will track his movements. Weinstein will have to get approval from a judge if he wants to travel beyond New York or Connecticut.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to the rape and sex crime charges. A court date has been set for July. His lawyer, Ben Brafman, has issued the following statement: “Mr. Weinstein has always maintained that he has never engaged in non-consensual sexual behavior with anyone. Nothing about today’s proceedings changes Mr. Weinstein’s position. He has entered a plea of not guilty and fully expects to be exonerated.”
The New York judge has set a $10 million bond, or $1 million in cash. According to Variety, Weinstein paid a $1 million cashier’s check to post bail.
Update (8:55am ET): Weinstein has been officially charged with rape. According to the NYPD, “Harvey Weinstein was arrested, processed and charged with Rape, Criminal Sex Act, Sex Abuse and Sexual Misconduct for incidents involving two separate women. The NYPD thanks these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice.” One woman who is remaining anonymous alleges Weinstein raped her in March 2013. The other is actress Lucia Evans, who says Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him at his Manhattan office in 2014.
Earlier: Harvey Weinstein has surrendered to police and is set to face charges of sexually assaulting two women: a former actress named Lucia Evans, and another unidentified victim. Variety reports that the disgraced mogul arrived around 7:30 am ET at the downtown NYC police precinct, which was surrounded by reporters. Bond is expected to be set at $2 million, CNN reports. The news organization also reports that sources close to the prosecution say that the charges delivered to Weinstein later in court today will include “first- and third-degree rape in one case and a first-degree sex act in a second case.”
Since fall, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment and assault. The Weinstein Company has since gone into bankruptcy, and other investigations into his behavior are open in Los Angeles and London. Since the slew of accusations followed two bombshell reports from The New Yorker and The New York Times in October, Weinstein has reportedly been seeking treatment in Arizona, emerging occasionally to deny new allegations as consensual sexual encounters.
Ronan Farrow, who wrote the initial New Yorker story in October, spoke with Evans for the publication this week about why she decided to bring charges against Weinstein.
“I know how this has changed my life for the worse,” she said. “How he took away my self-esteem and personal power. And knowing I can take it back, and stop him from doing that to another woman, I couldn’t let that go.”
