The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has requested temporary custody of Harvey Weinstein from the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision so that he can face charges of rape and sexual assault in L.A.
The Monday request comes a day after reports that Weinstein tested positive for the novel coronavirus while in prison. (Weinstein’s spokesperson, attorney, and prison consultant told TheWrap in a statement on Monday that they “will neither confirm nor deny whether Mr. Weinstein has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.”)
“As for any concerns given the coronavirus pandemic, our office expects that each agency responsible for processing, transporting and housing defendant Weinstein will follow its protocols and public health guidelines,” a spokesperson from the Los Angeles D.A.’s office told TheWrap in a statement.
An arraignment date has not been set, since the D.A.’s office said it cannot determine when Weinstein will “physically be in Los Angeles,” according to the statement. But once he arrives in the county, he will be “arraigned on the criminal complaint.”
Earlier this month, Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York after a jury found him guilty of rape and a forcible sexual act.
In L.A., Weinstein faces one felony count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint. The charges stem from the accounts of two women: an unnamed Italian actress and model who said the convicted producer raped her at a Beverly Hills Hotel in 2013 and Lauren Young, a model who testified in the Manhattan trial as a “prior bad acts” witness and said Weinstein groped her breast and masturbated in front of her that same year.
Weinstein has denied accusations of nonconsensual sex.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.