New Criminal Charges For Hollywood’s Greatest Monster
Nobody in Hollywood has had a worse fall from grace than Harvey Weinstein: he was once a respected film producer and co-founder of Miramax, and he became one of the biggest names in the industry. However, after a dozen women came forward accusing him of many horrific actions, he was arrested, tried, and ultimately convicted of both sexual assault and rape before the charges were overturned in April. Many thought the producer had effectively hit rock bottom, but now a grand jury has been convened to examine fresh allegations of criminal wrongdoing against Weinstein.
New Allegations
While originally reported by TMZ, their information in this case came straight from Weinstein’s own lawyer, Arthur Aidala. He was at a Manhattan courthouse this past Tuesday and confirmed that a grand jury is looking into fresh allegations against his client.
Aidala claims that at least three witnesses have testified on behalf of a prosecutor who wants a brand new indictment against Harvey Weinstein.
Complain Witnesses
While that is the end of what Aidala knows for sure, he has made some educated guesses regarding what these new allegations may be. In an interview with TMZ, Aidala admitted that he is unsure of the identity of the women who have testified before the grand jury. However, he is confident that all three of them are “complain witnesses” and that they are accusing Harvey Weinstein of committing sexual assault.
One More Attempt
As near as Aidala can tell, the alleged assaults these new witnesses are describing occurred over a period of more than a decade. Two of these assaults would have taken place between 2005-2006, and the third would have taken place in 2016.
Part of what makes these new allegations particularly important for all of the women who have previously testified against the disgraced producer is that this is the latest (and quite possibly final) attempt to make Harvey Weinstein face justice.
Rose McGowan
Previously, Weinstein was convicted of Mimi Haley and Jessica Mann as part of his 2020 trial. At the time, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and both the women who came forward and the many people who believed their chilling accounts of Weinstein’s horrific actions were happy to see justice.
However, in April 2024, his conviction was overturned because of so-called “egregious errors” made by the trial judge.
The conviction getting overturned was particularly awful for Rose McGowan, the Scream and Charmed star who previously came forward regarding what Harvey Weinstein allegedly did to her. “No matter what they overturn, they cannot take away who we are and what we know, what we’ve gone through and what we can achieve in this life,” she previously said.
Other Victims
“We are not victims. We are people that were injured by evil,” she continued. For McGowan and other actors who came forward (including Ashley Judd and Rosanna Arquette), there are great hopes for the retrial ordered by the Court of Appeals, but these new allegations may not be firmly related to the original case.
This past Tuesday, Aidala told the judge that he was eager to separate the original Haley and Mann case from any new indictments that Harvey Weinstein may receive.
Obviously, only time will tell what these new charges are, whether they result in an indictment, and whether any possible conviction sticks this time around. But countless movie lovers all around the world are already convinced that Harvey Weinstein is Hollywood’s greatest monster.
To those audiences, the only question is whether this monster will finally be put back into a cage where he belongs.
Source: TMZ
