Tag Harvey

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Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has asked a higher court to release him on $2 million bail pending the outcome of an appeal of his New York rape conviction.

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Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence after a jury convicted him of forcibly performing oral sex on former Project Runway production assistant Miriam ‘Mimi’ Haleyi in 2006 and raping hairstylist Jessica Mann in 2013.

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However, on Friday lawyers for the former Miramax boss cited his history of philanthropy and his deteriorating health in an appeal for his release on bail, according to court papers obtained by the New York Post.

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Attorney Barry Kamins argues Weinstein had “shined a spotlight on a myriad of human struggles,” including raising awareness of racial injustice in The Butler, Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom and Fruitvale Station.

“His films engendered empathy for those who are afflicted by disabilities that society has stigmatized and for those who are victimized by injustice,” Kamins wrote, calling the executive a “force in philanthropy”.

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Weinstein has “serious medical conditions” for which he must take 20 different medications, according to the bail application. He’s now confined to a wheelchair and is losing vision in both eyes as a result of his diabetes, the papers claim, and he also has an enlarged aorta and prostate.

Although he tested positive for Covid-19 in March and was quarantined for 23 days, there remain concerns that he could contract the virus again in prison, the papers state.

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In addition to his current sentence, Weinstein is currently awaiting extradition to Los Angeles in connection with offences related to three other victims and, earlier this month, he was hit with six additional criminal charges related to three alleged rapes in Beverly Hills, California.

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Harvey Weinstein has been accused of raping a woman in the film industry during the 2000 presidential debate in a new lawsuit.

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The woman, who filed her case anonymously under the name Jane Doe V, alleges she met the fallen movie mogul when she was 19, while attending the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.

She was introduced to Weinstein by her then-boyfriend and, according to the now-55-year-old Pennsylvania woman, for the first few years of knowing Weinstein, he kept his distance from her out of apparent respect for her relationship.

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However, after earning she was single in 1992, he allegedly started to take an interest in her career, which would “quickly turn into unwanted sexual advances,” the court papers claim. The pair met three times afterwards, which culminated in Weinstein allegedly raping her.

In 1993, around the time that Weinstein sold his company Miramax to Disney, he reportedly invited her to his room at The Peninsula Beverly Hills for a cocktail before a dinner, during which he stripped down to “nothing but a bathrobe and exposed his genitals to plaintiff before she could utter a word,” the suit claims.

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She reportedly rebuffed his advances and, given this was the first time that Weinstein acted this way toward her and that he “had continuously promised to get her roles in his movies, she gave him the benefit of the doubt and the two remained in touch.”

The court papers go on to allege they met again 1994 at The Mayflower Hotel in New York City “under the guise of discussing business,” when Weinstein allegedly exposed his genitals to her and rubbed them against her “before she broke free and quickly exited the room.”

Then “after having reestablished their relationship through years of ‘good’ behaviour,” Weinstein “lured” her to his New York home on a pretence of watching the 2000 presidential debate together, where they ate sushi and drank, the papers claim.

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When the woman got up to go to the bathroom, Weinstein “blocked plaintiff’s path, forced her down onto the bed, removed her underwear and forcibly raped her,” per the filing.

“The sheer size and mass of Weinstein prevented plaintiff from being able to escape his clutches, but once he backed up, she broke free, sprinted for the door, and never saw Weinstein again,” the papers explain.

Since the alleged rape, the woman has apparently endured “severe emotional distress” and “her career was derailed and she all but stopped acting.”

Weinstein’s civil lawyer Imran Ansari said his client “intends to defend against the claims filed anonymously against him.”

Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year sentence in a state prison in New York after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in February. He is currently awaiting extradition to Los Angeles in connection with offences related to three other victims and, last week, he was hit with six additional criminal charges related to three alleged rapes in Beverly Hills, California.

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