NEW YORK, USA – Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, currently serving a lengthy prison sentence for sexual assault, was rushed from Rikers Island to Bellevue Hospital on Sunday, September 8, 2024, night for emergency heart surgery.
Representatives for Weinstein confirmed that the 72-year-old underwent the procedure following ongoing health complications.
Weinstein’s spokespersons, Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer, released a statement to Entertainment Weekly emphasizing the seriousness of his health conditions.
“As we have extensively stated before, Mr. Weinstein suffers a plethora of significant health issues that need ongoing treatment,” the statement read.
“We are grateful to the executive team at the New York City Department of Correction and Rikers Island for acting swiftly in taking him to Bellevue Hospital.”
This emergency hospitalisation comes just days before Weinstein was scheduled to appear in court, where prosecutors have been presenting evidence to a grand jury regarding a new sexual assault allegation.
The incident is alleged to have occurred between late 2005 and mid-2006 at a Manhattan residential building.
Weinstein has had multiple health issues during his time in custody.
In July, he was temporarily hospitalized after contracting double pneumonia and testing positive for COVID-19. His deteriorating health has been a consistent factor during his imprisonment.
Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year sentence for his 2020 conviction on charges of a criminal sex act in the first degree and rape in the third degree.
This conviction came at the height of the #MeToo movement, which brought forward allegations of sexual misconduct against the producer from dozens of women.
However, in April 2024, a New York court of appeals overturned the conviction and ordered a retrial, citing a critical error made during the initial trial.
The court’s 4-3 decision found that Justice James M. Burke erred in allowing the jury to hear from “Molineux” witnesses, a group of women who testified about alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein that were not directly part of the charges in the trial.
The court ruled that this improperly influenced the jury’s decision-making.
Despite the overturned conviction in New York, Weinstein remains incarcerated due to a separate 16-year sentence handed down in California, where he was convicted of raping and sexually assaulting a woman in 2013.
Weinstein continues to deny any wrongdoing, maintaining that all sexual encounters with his accusers were consensual.
Weinstein’s legal battles are far from over.
With a retrial looming in New York and additional charges pending, the former movie mogul continues to face a complex web of allegations and legal proceedings.
