Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge in New York

NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday in New York to a new sex crime charge as he awaits a new trial in his historic #MeToo case.

In a new indictment, the jailed ex-movie mogul is accused of committing a criminal sex act, allegedly forcing a woman to perform oral sex on him between April 29, 2006, and May 6 of that year.

Weinstein has long maintained that he never engaged in non-consensual sexual acts.

No details have been released about the new prosecutor.

“Thanks to this survivor who bravely came forward, Harvey Weinstein now stands charged with an additional alleged violent sexual assault,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. The Democrat added that the investigation is ongoing.

Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala said he had “absolutely no idea” about the identity of the accuser or the details of the allegation.

“We still have a lot of work to do. We have to find out who this person is. We have to do an investigation,” he said outside court.

Weinstein “never forced himself on anyone,” the lawyer said.

The 72-year-old Weinstein, who is recovering from emergency surgery, arrived in a wheelchair, carrying two novels, and appeared to be paying attention to the proceedings.

Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been charged with additional sex crimes charges that were not part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new charges were sealed until his arraignment.

Prosecutors have said the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged attacks — two at hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a residential building in Lower Manhattan. The alleged incidents occurred from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.

It is not clear whether these include the allegations underlying the new indictment, nor what the grand jury made of what it heard about any allegations beyond those described in the indictment.

Aidala said Weinstein was “somewhat relieved” that there was only one charge on the new indictment.

As he braces for the new charges, Weinstein is also awaiting a new trial after the New York State Supreme Court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction for rape and criminal sexual acts against two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial.

It is tentatively scheduled to begin on November 12, although it will likely be postponed. Judge Curtis Farber has scheduled a hearing for October 2 to discuss scheduling.

Aidala said Weinstein wants to go to trial as soon as possible, but his defense team did not want to rush the new charges.

The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-judge had improperly allowed testimony based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge’s term expired in 2022 and he is no longer on the bench.

Prosecutors want to include the new charges in the new trial, but Weinstein’s lawyers say it should be a separate case. Farber plans to rule on that issue on Oct. 2.

Weinstein, who was also convicted in a 2022 rape case in Los Angeles, remains in custody pending his retrial in New York.

Weinstein has been in a Manhattan hospital following emergency surgery on Sept. 9 to drain fluid from around his heart and lungs. He is taking as many as 19 different medications for his various health conditions, Aidala said.

A judge last week agreed to allow Weinstein to remain in the Bellevue Hospital detention center indefinitely, rather than being transferred to the infirmary at New York’s Rikers Island jail complex.

Weinstein, once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, co-founded the film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company and produced films such as “Shakespeare in Love” and “The Crying Game.”