(Bloomberg) -- Harvey Weinstein was charged by California state prosecutors with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another, more than two years after accusations that the film producer had preyed on women first spilled into public view.
The charges, announced Monday in Los Angeles, come as Weinstein is about to go on trial in New York, where he’s accused of rape and predatory sexual assault. They add new peril for the former Hollywood power broker, who could face as long as life in prison if convicted in New York and now must also confront the new set of allegations that could send him to jail in California.
“We believe the evidence will show that the defendant used his power and influence to gain access to his victims and then commit violent crimes against them,” Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement before holding a press conference.
The charges relate to alleged assaults against two women in 2013, Lacey said. She didn’t identify them but said one is expected to testify at Weinstein’s trial in New York.
More charges may be pending in Los Angeles. Three women’s claims are being investigated, Lacey said. She said other claims couldn’t be prosecuted, either for lack of evidence or because the statute of limitations had expired. Beverly Hills Police Chief Sandra Spagnoli said if there are other victims, she’d encourage them to come forward because she’s intent on leaving “no stone unturned.”
New York Case
Hours before the Los Angeles charges were announced, Weinstein appeared in state court in New York for a final conference before the start of jury selection on Tuesday. His lawyers asked New York State Supreme Court Justice James M. Burke to sequester the jury because jurors might be prejudiced against Weinstein if new charges against him were to be filed elsewhere. Burke denied the request.
Weinstein, 67, is accused of raping one woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on another in 2006 in his apartment in the city. He maintains that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors say they plan to call at least four Weinstein accusers beyond the two in the indictment to testify, to show a pattern of predatory behavior. They say they may also call Weinstein’s longtime lawyer David Boies to testify that Weinstein hired Black Cube -- a firm run largely by former officers of Mossad and other Israeli intelligence agencies -- to investigate his accusers. Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi said the state wouldn’t summon Boies if the defense agrees the prosecution can tell the jury Weinstein hired Black Cube.
A lawyer for Weinstein said the defense would fight any effort to call Boies, citing attorney-client privilege. A spokesman for Boies didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
As Weinstein arrived in court Monday morning, he was surrounded by his lawyers and a security team and met by scores of photographers and television cameras lining the street outside the lower Manhattan courthouse. Hunched over, he moved slowly and with the help of a walker, following recent back surgery, and left court without making any comments.
Outside the courthouse, about 20 women gathered, including the actors Rosanna Arquette and Rose McGowan, who both say they were abused by Weinstein and promised to attend the trial, which could last as long as two months.
“Today is a day for us to honor how far we’ve come and how much we’ve endured,” McGowan said. “We are free. We are beautiful. We are strong. And you will never take that from us.”
Illuzzi’s description of actions taken by Black Cube match an account McGowan gave the New Yorker in a November 2017 article. McGowan, who alleges Weinstein raped her, told the magazine a Black Cube employee met with her and, using a false identity as a women’s rights activist, tried to extract information from her, secretly recording at least four meetings. In the article, Black Cube declined to comment on the specifics of any work it did for Weinstein, saying its policy was “never to discuss its clients with any third party.”
Donna Rotunno, another lawyer for Weinstein, said after the hearing that she was grateful the judge hadn’t granted the prosecutor’s request to bar the defense team from speaking publicly about the case.
“Ms. Illuzzi is trying to silence us from speaking to you while she stands up in front of a court and calls my client a predator,” Rotunno said. “But he has a right to a fair trial, and she believes he’s already been convicted. That’s not how it works.”
Weinstein suffered an early setback Monday when Burke ruled that his lawyers can’t call a former New York City detective accused of withholding evidence from the defense and also denied a request to keep jurors sequestered. In addition, Illuzzi objected to a defense request for more evidence, including emails and phone records of Weinstein’s accusers that aren’t part of the case and that she said Weinstein wasn’t entitled to.
“This is very sensitive matter for some witnesses,” she said, referring to women who accused Weinstein of assault or harassment who “did not go forward with this process.” She said “this is not material we are going to give to someone we view as a predator.”
Burke denied what he called the defense’s “renewed and re-renewed motion” to be given materials including “various hospital and medical records and the names of potential witnesses.”
Prospective jurors will be provided with a questionnaire on Tuesday. Prosecutors and defense lawyers will begin questioning them in about a week.
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