Harvey Weinstein hit with new charges in Los Angeles as landmark #MeToo trial begins in New York
- In latest announcement, LA prosecutors accuse Hollywood mogul of raping one woman and sexually assaulting another over two-day period in 2013
- Accusers in New York call Weinstein ‘cowardly’, saying he would not meet their eyes as they confronted him outside court
Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on new sex-crime charges in Los Angeles, just as his trial on separate rape and sexual assault charges in New York was getting under way, prosecutors announced on Monday.
The Hollywood mogul has been charged with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in separate incidents over a two-day period in 2013, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a release.
“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 the 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.”
Weinstein is accused of raping a woman in a hotel room on February 18, 2013, after pushing his way inside her room, prosecutors said. The next night, he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman in a hotel suite in Beverly Hills, California.
Those events came days before he was photographed on the Oscars red carpet with his then-wife, the fashion designer Georgina Chapman, who was pregnant at the time.
