Harvey Weinstein could be charged with more allegations of sexual misconduct by a New York grand jury this week, a source said Wednesday.
A New York grand jury has been convened to weigh whether to bring new charges against the disgraced former movie mogul, a source with knowledge of the proceedings told NBC News, adding that a decision could be announced as early as Friday.
Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, said Wednesday in a statement: “We will be prepared for whatever comes our way, they are going to do whatever they can to make sure Harvey doesn’t see the light of day.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment in an email to NBC News.
Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction was overturned in April by the New York Court of Appeals, which said in a 4-3 decision that Weinstein’s trial judge should not have allowed certain witnesses to testify because their allegations were not part of the charges filed against him.
The DA announced in July that it was going to retry Weinstein on the original charges from the 2020 trial but that it planned to interview other alleged victims.
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A few weeks later, Judge Curtis Farber set a trial date for Nov. 12, and a source with knowledge of the case said any potential new charges likely would be folded into one trial.
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Weinstein, who was originally sentenced to 23 years in prison for forcibly performing oral sex on a former TV and film production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for an attack on another woman in 2013, is serving time at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York for a 2022 conviction in a separate rape case in Los Angeles.
Weinstein’s legal team is appealing that conviction and its sentence of 16 years in prison.
In all, more than 80 women have accused the Oscar-winning producer of sexual assault or harassment. The allegations, first reported by The New York Times and The New Yorker, set off the #MeToo movement, in which powerful Hollywood men were called out for alleged abuses of power.
Weinstein has maintained that any sexual encounters were consensual.
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