Harvey Weinstein “Secretly Accused by LA Grand Jury on Rape Charges”

According to a report, Harvey Weinstein was secretly charged with rape charges by a grand jury in Los Angeles.

The accusation came “a few weeks ago” and is very similar to a criminal complaint filed in January 2020 by former DA Jackie Lacey, Fox News reported.

He will probably facilitate the extradition of the mogul from New York, where he is already serving a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault.

Weinstein faces 11 charges in California, including rape and sexual violence involving five incidents between 2004 and 2013.

If convicted, the former Hollywood producer faces up to 140 years in prison.

Fox reported that the sealed indictment, along with the arrest warrant for Weinstein, is expected to be made public Monday afternoon after an extradition hearing in Erie, New York.

The DA’s Los Angeles office did not respond to Fox’s investigation into the accusation.

A lawyer for two of Weinstein’s five accusers in the LA case declined to comment.

The LA case against Weinstein, 69, was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the DA office would not want to wait to continue.

Weinstein is currently serving his sentence at the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, a maximum security prison. Through his lawyer, he denied all the accusations brought against him.

“These are old, unfounded, unsubstantiated, unbelievable accusations that arose during the hysteria of the #MeToo movement and we are confident that Mr Weinstein will be acquitted because there is no credible evidence against him. He is innocent, “said defense attorney Mark Werksman.

At Monday’s hearing, Weinstein’s lawyers are expected to request an extradition delay, as his poor health could endanger him due to the pandemic.

If the expected request is denied, Weinstein could be extradited to Los Angeles within 30 days.

Experts said an indictment could help LA prosecutors streamline legal proceedings by going directly to trial.

If the extradition had been made solely on the basis of a criminal complaint, a preliminary hearing would have been necessary.

“This trial will eliminate the need for a preliminary hearing, which is a kind of mini-trial as we saw in the OJ case: there was the trial before the trial,” criminal defense attorney Troy Slaten told Fox News, referring to the 1994 OJ 5 Simpson murder trial.

Gloria Allred, who represents two of Weinstein’s five defendants, said she hoped to appear in court on the west coast soon.

“It seems to me that Mr. Weinstein does not want to be moved to Los Angeles to deal with the charges, but postponed justice is denied justice,” said the prominent women’s rights lawyer.

Allred represents Mimi Haleyi, one of the women for whom Weinstein’s accusations were found guilty in his trial in New York a year ago.

In LA, she defends an unnamed woman, as well as model and actress Lauren Young, who appeared as a witness in Weinstein’s criminal trial in New York.

Young testified that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in a hotel room in Beverly Hills in February 2013.

She said she was caught in a bathroom with the producer who allegedly groped her while masturbating.

LA prosecutors claim that Weinstein raped another woman at a hotel in Beverly Hills on February 18, 2013 – just one day before the alleged attack on Young.

The other three women involved in the LA case were also allegedly assaulted at hotels in Beverly Hills.

Regardless of the outcome of the Los Angeles case, Weinstein should return to New York to serve the remainder of his 23-year sentence.

Earlier this month, Weinstein filed an appeal against his conviction for rape and sexual offenses, claiming that he had not received a fair trial and that the incidents were “unquestionably consensual” and that many of the women who testified at his process I just think is “ugly.”

His lawyers filed a 166-page appeal in Manhattan on April 5, claiming that the judge allowed too many testimonies about Weinstein’s reputation and character.

Weinstein was convicted of a first-degree criminal sexual assault charge and a third-degree rape charge in February last year. He was acquitted of three other charges. He was convicted on March 11.

“The prosecution simply tried Weinstein’s character, not his behavior,” his lawyers said in their appeal on Monday.

“A year ago and the emotions diminished, the transcript of the case confirms what I always thought: that Mr. Weinstein did not receive a fair trial … We have the greatest confidence that the Appeals Division will correct these mistakes and send this back to another judge, ‘they said.

They say the jury ignored the facts of the case, focusing instead on the public figure of Weinstein that was created and that the incidents themselves were “unquestionably” consensual.