NEW YORK – Seven years after sexual assault and harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein turbocharged the #MeToo movement, the ex-movie mogul faces a new sex crime charge from an accuser who's never told her story publicly.
While awaiting retrial on other sex charges in a landmark #MeToo case, Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new charge of forcing oral sex on a woman in a Manhattan hotel in spring 2006.
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Prosecutors released no details about her, and Weinstein's lawyer said he had no idea who she is. But an attorney said that she represents the woman and that she has never made her accusation public.
“She will be fully prepared to speak her truth at trial to hold Mr. Weinstein accountable before a jury of his peers,” the lawyer, Lindsay Goldbrum, said in a statement. She said the woman doesn't want to be identified for now, and the law firm declined to say anything more about her or her accusation.
According to the indictment and another court document, the alleged assault — the specific charge is a “criminal sex act” — happened at a lower Manhattan hotel between April 29, 2006, and May 6 of that year.
Weinstein has long maintained that he never engaged in any sexual activity that wasn’t consensual. Defense attorney Arthur Aidala reiterated Wednesday that his client “never forced himself on anyone.”
Aidala said he had “absolutely no clue” about the accuser’s identity or the specifics of the allegation.
“We have a lot of work to do. We have to find out who that person is. We have to do an investigation,” he said outside court.
The 72-year-old Weinstein, who is recovering from emergency surgery, came to court in a wheelchair, carrying two novels with him. He appeared to watch the proceeding intently.
The once-powerful studio boss became a #MeToo archvillain in 2017, when reporting by The New York Times and The New Yorker pulled back a curtain on claims about his behavior that had long been known around Hollywood.
The outpouring touched off a far broader reckoning with sexual misconduct, and the allegations led to Weinstein's professional downfall, multiple lawsuits and criminal charges on both U.S. coasts. His 2020 rape and sexual assault conviction was a watershed #MeToo moment, followed by his 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to decades in prison.
But New York state’s highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction, which was based on accusations from two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, said the trial judge unfairly 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.
The Court of Appeals ordered a new trial, which had been scheduled to start in November but now is likely to be delayed.
The new judge on the case, Curtis Farber, set an Oct. 2 hearing to discuss scheduling and rule on whether the new charge will be wrapped into the retrial, a consolidation that prosecutors want but Weinstein's lawyers oppose. Aidala said Weinstein wants to go to trial as soon as possible, but his defense team doesn't want to rush its work on addressing the new charge.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on at least one additional sex crime charge that wasn’t part of the earlier case. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment Wednesday.
Prosecutors had said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults, in hotels and a residential building, from the mid-2000s to 2016.
Aidala said Weinstein was “somewhat relieved” to find only one charge on the new indictment.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the investigation continues.
“Thanks to this survivor who bravely came forward, Harvey Weinstein now stands indicted for an additional alleged violent sexual assault,” Bragg, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Weinstein remains in custody while awaiting his New York retrial.
The 72-year-old has been at a Manhattan hospital following emergency surgery Sept. 9 to drain fluid around his heart and lungs. He takes as many as 19 different medications for his various health ailments, Aidala said.
Once one of the most influential people in the movie business, Weinstein 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.”