Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases
In October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that dozens of women had accused the American film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse over a period of at least 30 years. Over 80 women in the film industry eventually accused Weinstein of such acts. Weinstein himself denied "any non-consensual sex". Shortly after, he was dismissed from The Weinstein Company (TWC), expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other professional associations, and retired from public view.
"Weinstein scandal" redirects here. For the resignation of the Archivist of the United States, see Allen Weinstein § Sexual assault allegations.
Criminal investigations into complaints from at least six women took place in Los Angeles, New York City, and London. In May 2018, Weinstein was arrested in New York and charged with rape and other offenses.[1] In 2020, he was found guilty of rape in the third degree and a criminal sexual act,[2] and sentenced to 23 years of imprisonment,[3] but that conviction was overturned on appeal in 2024 because of procedural errors.[4] Weinstein was sentenced to 16 more years after being convicted in Los Angeles of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault,[5] which he also appealed.[6][7]
The New York Times and The New Yorker were awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their coverage of Weinstein. The scandal triggered many similar allegations against powerful men around the world, and led to the ousting of many of them from their positions. It also led a great number of women to share their own experiences of sexual assault, harassment, or rape on social media under the hashtag #MeToo. The scandal's impact on powerful men in various industries came to be called the Weinstein effect.
Background
Harvey Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, formed the film production company Miramax and led the company from 1979 to 2005.[8] That company was purchased by The Walt Disney Company in June 1993,[9] though the Weinsteins continued to run the company until September 2005, when they left the company[10] to run The Weinstein Company (TWC),[11] which they had founded in March.[12]
Rumors of Harvey Weinstein's "casting couch" practices (soliciting sexual favors from a job applicant in exchange for employment) circulated in Hollywood for years, and entertainment figures at times alluded to them. As early as 1998, Gwyneth Paltrow said on Late Show with David Letterman that Weinstein "will coerce you to do a thing or two".[13] In 2005, Courtney Love advised young actresses in an interview, "If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party in the Four Seasons, don't go."[14] In 2010, an article titled "Harvey's Girls"[15] for Pajiba alluded to Weinstein's "casting couch" reputation: "Every few years, Harvey picks a new girl as his pet." In 2012, a character on the TV series 30 Rock said: "I'm not afraid of anyone in show business: I turned down intercourse with Harvey Weinstein on no less than three occasions – out of five." While announcing the 2013 nominees for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, Seth MacFarlane joked: "Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein."[13] After the allegations were published, director Quentin Tarantino said that he had known about Weinstein harassing actresses for decades, and had confronted him about it.[16] Ivana Lowell wrote in her book Why Not Say What Happened?, published in 2010, about misbehavior by Weinstein when she worked for the books division of Miramax. The incidents described were in her office when she was alone with Harvey Weinstein, and in her home when a female friend of hers was present. She wrote that she "knew about Harvey's reputation as a womanizer; tales of his trying to seduce every young actress in town were infamous".[17]
Journalists wrote or attempted to write about Weinstein's alleged behavior. David Carr found that no one allegedly assaulted by Weinstein would speak on the record; Ken Auletta and his editors decided he could not mention an assault allegation without cooperation from the victim.[18] In 2015, Jordan Sargent wrote in his Gawker article "Tell Us What You Know About Harvey Weinstein's 'Open Secret'"[19] that "rumors of the powerful producer leveraging his industry power for sexual satisfaction—consensual or otherwise—have tended to remain unaired, confined to hushed conversation and seedier gossip-blog comment threads."[13] The New York Times later wrote that Weinstein had built a "wall of invulnerability", in part through his support of leading Democratic politicians. He boasted being friends with Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. The Clintons continued longstanding close relationships with him despite alleged warnings about Weinstein to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign from Lena Dunham and Tina Brown.[18]
In 2015, The New York Times reported that Weinstein was questioned by police "after a 22-year-old woman accused him of touching her inappropriately".[20] The woman, Italian model Ambra Gutierrez, cooperated with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to obtain an audio recording where Weinstein admitted to having inappropriately touched her.[21] As the police investigation progressed and became public, tabloids published negative stories about Gutierrez that portrayed her as an opportunist.[22][23] American Media, publisher of the National Enquirer, allegedly agreed to help suppress the allegations by Gutierrez and Rose McGowan.[18] Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. decided not to file charges against Weinstein, citing insufficient evidence of criminal intent,[23] against the advice of local police who considered the evidence sufficient.[24] The New York district attorney's office and the NYPD blamed each other for failing to bring charges.[24]
In July 2018, after many allegations and criminal charges of sexual misconduct, Greek journalist Taki Theodoracopulos said to The Spectator that his friend Weinstein told him in an interview, "Yes, I did offer them [girls] acting jobs in exchange for sex, but so did and still does everyone."[25] Weinstein's lawyer later said he had been present, and Weinstein did not make that statement. Theodoracopulos stated he "may have misrepresented" Weinstein.[26] Weinstein's quotes and some of the author's observations were later removed from the article which only appeared on the magazine's website.[27]
2017 reports
Substantial allegations of sexual misconduct by Weinstein were first reported by The New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey on October 5, 2017. The story accused Weinstein of three decades of sexually harassing and paying eight settlements to actresses and female production assistants, temps, and other employees who worked at Miramax and TWC.[23][28] The investigation, which came on the heels of a successful exposé of Bill O'Reilly by The New York Times, had taken roughly five months.[29]
Five days later, on October 10, longtime NBC News correspondent Ronan Farrow reported in The New Yorker further allegations that Weinstein had sexually assaulted or harassed 13 women, and raped three.[30] Farrow said he had wanted to break the story months earlier with NBC, but implied the network was under pressure not to publish,[31] which NBC denied.[32] According to Farrow, 16 former or current executives and assistants connected with Weinstein said they had witnessed or had been informed of Weinstein's non-consensual sexual advances to women. Four actresses relayed their suspicion that, after rejecting Weinstein's advances and complaining about him, he had them removed from projects or persuaded others to remove them. A number of Farrow's sources said Weinstein had referred to his success in planting stories in the media about individuals who had crossed him. The New Yorker also published the 2015 audio recording in which Weinstein admits to groping Gutierrez.[30]
In November 2017, Farrow reported that Weinstein had, through the lawyer David Boies, employed private intelligence agencies Kroll and Black Cube and private investigator Jack Palladino to spy on and influence Weinstein's alleged victims as well as Kantor, Twohey, Farrow and other reporters who were investigating Weinstein. He took these actions, according to Farrow, to prevent his sexual conduct from becoming public.[18][33][34]
Criminal prosecutions
Police investigations
In October 2017, the New York City Police Department (NYPD), London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) were reviewing allegations against Weinstein following reports about his conduct.[148] The London investigation—dubbed "Operation Kaguyak"—reportedly investigated fifteen alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein, dating back to the 1990s.[149] The UK Crown Prosecution Service has authorized charging Weinstein over alleged indecent assaults that are claimed to have happened in 1996.[150]
New York trial, conviction and reversal
On November 3, 2017, the NYPD were preparing a warrant to arrest Weinstein for his alleged rape of Paz de la Huerta, an investigation still pending as of May 2018 and unrelated to the later arrest of Weinstein.[151][152]
On May 25, 2018, Weinstein was charged by the New York County District Attorney's Office with "rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women". After surrendering to the New York City Police Department (NYPD), he was arrested and appeared in the New York City Criminal Court before Judge Kevin McGrath.[153] Weinstein was released the same day on a $1 million bail. He agreed to surrender his passport and wear an ankle monitor confining him to Connecticut and New York.[154][153] In July 2018, Weinstein was indicted on an additional charge of "predatory sexual assault" against a woman he allegedly forced into oral sex in 2006.[155] On October 11, 2018, a judge dismissed one of the sex assault charges.[156]
Weinstein was initially represented by Benjamin Brafman, but parted ways with Brafman in January 2019,[157][158] and hired Donna Rotunno as his defense counsel.[159] Weinstein was tried in February 2020 in Manhattan Supreme Court. At the trial, six women testified that Weinstein had sexually assaulted them; the charges themselves rested on the complaints of two women, a former production assistant and a former actress, who gave the jury accounts from 2006 and 2013, respectively.[160][3][161] On February 24, 2020, the jury found Weinstein guilty of rape in the third degree and a criminal sexual act in the first degree, and not guilty on three counts including two more serious charges of predatory sexual assault.[2][3] The convictions resulted from the case of "Jane Doe 1", later revealed to be Evgeniya Chernyshova, a Russian model and actress living in Italy. She testified that she attended the 2013 Italian Film Festival in Los Angeles when Weinstein came uninvited to her hotel room; after she opened the door, he eventually raped her in the bath room.[40]
After the verdict, Weinstein was remanded to jail,[160] where he was housed in Rikers Island's infirmary unit.[3] Justice James A. Burke sentenced Weinstein to 23 years in prison on March 11, 2020.[3] Weinstein was 67 years of age and in poor health at the time of sentencing.[3] On March 18, 2020, he was transferred to Wende Correctional Facility.[162]