Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey on Monday filed new criminal charges against Harvey Weinstein, accusing the disgraced Hollywood mogul of raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in separate incidents over a two-day period in 2013.
Weinstein was indicted with one felony count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint. Arraignment will be scheduled for a later date, with a recommended bail of $5 million. If convicted, Weinstein faces up to 28 years in California state prison.
The new indictment came on the day that Weinstein’s criminal trial on other sex-crime charges kicked off in a New York City courtroom.
“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,” Lacey said in a statement. “I want to commend the victims who have come forward and bravely recounted what happened to them. It is my hope that all victims of sexual violence find strength and healing as they move forward.”
According to the prosecutors, Weinstein pushed his way into a woman’s hotel room on Feb. 18, 2013 and then raped her. And the next night, prosecutors say that he sexually assaulted another woman at a hotel suite in Beverly Hills.
Weinstein’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The new charges against Weinstein are the first to emerge from a task force Lacey formed in 2017 to review sexual abuse accusations against high-profile individuals in the entertainment industry in the wake of the bombshell reports about Weinstein and other Hollywood figures exposed by the #MeToo movement.
Last week, her office said it was reviewing accusations from eight women who had accused Weinstein of sexual battery or assault — four investigated by the LAPD and four by Beverly Hills police.
On Monday, the once-mighty Hollywood producer used a walker to hobble into a courtroom in lower Manhattan where a trial began on five felony charges ranging from predatory sexual assault to rape. He has pleaded not guilty.