Weinstein charged with more rapes in California
LOS ANGELES » Harvey Weinstein was charged Friday with the rapes of two more women and now faces 11 sexual assault counts involving five women inCalifornia as the formermoviemogul serves prison time in New York, prosecutors said.
Weinstein was charged with three new counts of rape and three new counts of forcible oral copulation involving two women, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said.
An amended criminal complaint alleges that Weinstein raped one woman at a hotel in BeverlyHills between September 2004 and September 2005, and raped another woman twice betweenNovember 2009 and November 2010, also at a Beverly Hills hotel.
Weinstein spokesman Juda Engelmayer said in response to the charges that “Harvey Weinstein has always maintained that every one of his physical encounters throughout his entire life have been consensual. That hasn’t changed. At this moment we cannot comment on the additional charges until we learn more about them.”
The 68-year- old Weinstein is serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York after convictions in February for rape and sexual assault of two women.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles have begun the process of extraditing him to face charges but agreed last month to delay attempts to bring himto California because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Weinstein was diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this year while serving time in a maximum security prison near Buffalo, New York.
His next extradition hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11.