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Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to the new charges at his arraignment in New York on Wednesday.
Weinstein appeared in court in a wheelchair after undergoing heart surgery last week.
Variety Reports “Why bring new charges? Maybe the current case fell apart. They arrested individuals and then went after the criminal charges,” Harvey’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, asked.
On Thursday, news broke that the disgraced film producer had been indicted by a grand jury on new charges. For now, the new indictment remains sealed, but Variety reports that it includes “sexual battery charges.”
Harvey Weinstein indicted on new charges by New York City grand jury
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Harvey was convicted of third-degree rape and first-degree sexual offense in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison, but the conviction was overturned on appeal in April.
Prosecutors now want to reindict the 72-year-old man, with Variety reporting that they would like to include this new charge, but the defense is opposed to the plan.
His new trial is tentatively scheduled for November but could be postponed until 2025.
In 2022, Weinstein was convicted in Los Angeles of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault and sentenced to 16 years in prison for those charges. His team plans to appeal.
The allegations against Harvey in 2017 spurred the #MeToo movement, but he has vehemently denied the allegations and accusations against him.
After her conviction in New York City was overturned, Extra spoke with Mariska Hargitay at Variety’s “Power of Women New York” event.
The actress founded the Joyful Heart Foundation, whose mission is to change society’s response to sexual assault, and spoke about the #MeToo movement in a speech to Variety magazine.
Mariska said, “Hollywood still has a long way to go, and we need many more speeches like this to move the powers that be to make fundamental change. But this is just the beginning. Like I said, change is messy, it’s messy, and it’s very uncomfortable, but it’s necessary, and we won’t stop until it happens.”
