A grand jury has indicted Harvey Weinstein on multiple rape and criminal sex charges.
Last Friday, the disgraced movie mogul was charged on two counts of rape and one of a criminal sexual act for alleged incidents involving two separate women in 2004 and 2013.
The 2004 charge involves former actress Lucia Evans, who claimed that Harvey forced her to perform oral sex in his office.
The indictment came just hours after Harvey waived his right to testify before the grand jury, as his lawyer said there wasn’t enough time to prepare him.
Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said, “A grand jury has voted to indict Harvey Weinstein on charges of rape in the first and third degrees, and criminal sexual act in the first degree.”
“Our office will try this case not in the press, but in the courtroom where it belongs. The defendant’s recent assault on the integrity of the survivors and the legal process is predictable. We are confident that when the jury hears the evidence, it will reject these attacks out of hand,” he added.
The 66-year-old appeared in court on Friday, where he agreed to post the $1 million bail, wear an electronic monitor, surrender his passport, and restrict his travel to New York state and Connecticut.
The former film producer vehemently denies the allegations, and his lawyer Benjamin Brafman has insisted that he will plead not guilty.
In a statement, Mr Brafman said, “The announcement of Mr Weinstein’s indictment, does not come as a surprise.”
“We remind everyone that an indictment is merely a formal accusation. Mr Weinstein intends to enter a plea of not guilty and vigorously defend against these unsupported allegations that he strongly denies.
“We will soon formally move to dismiss the indictment and if this case actually proceeds to trial, we expect Mr Weinstein to be acquitted.”
Since the film producer’s behaviour was exposed last year, over 70 women have accused Harvey of sexual misconduct.
