Harvey Weinstein ‘rushed to hospital for emergency heart surgery’ days before Hollywood monster due in court

HARVEY Weinstein has been hospitalized after experiencing chest pains, according to reports.

The disgraced former film producer and convicted sex offender, 72, was rushed from the Rikers Island jail facility to Bellevue Hospital in New York City on Monday.

AFP

Reuters

Weinstein was rushed into an emergency heart surgery, according to ABC affiliate WABC .

The emergency episode comes as Weinstein will appear in court later this week.

Weinstein, whose rape conviction in New York was overturned by an appeals court in April , will be retried on sex crimes on November 12.

The shamed movie mogul’s attorneys have long voiced concerns about Weinstein’s declining health as he remains in jail awaiting retrial.

Weinstein has been pictured being wheeled into court since as early as 2020, when he was first tried on sex crime charges in New York City.

He was placed in a 72-hour isolation while in prison in November 2020 after contracting Covid-19.

In 2021, as he faced trial in Los Angeles, Weinstein’s public defender argued to the judge that the former director was “almost technically blind” and suffered cardiac and back problems and diabetes .

Then, in July, Weinstein was once again hospitalized with another bout of Covid and pneumonia.

Correction officers transferred Weinstein from Rikers Island to Bellevue Hospital, where he was being treated for other conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis, and fluid in his heart and lungs, according to his publicist.

Despite having his conviction overturned in New York, Weinstein has been forced to await his retrial behind bars because his 2022 Los Angeles conviction still stands .

Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years after being found guilty of rape, forcible oral copulation, and sexual penetration by a foreign object involving a woman known only as Jane Doe One.

The attack on the unidentified woman, described only as an actress, occurred at a Los Angeles hotel in 2013, prosecutors said.

Weinstein’s legal team appealed his Los Angeles conviction weeks after his New York conviction was overturned.

Meanwhile, Weinstein’s attorneys have said their client is eager for a retrial.

“[Weinstein] is anxious to go to trial and prove his innocence,” one of his attorneys told the Associated Press after a July court hearing.

Prosecutors have said they’re looking at new sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein in his retrial.

NEW CHARGES?

According to NBC News, a New York grand jury convened on September 4 to consider whether to bring new charges against Weinstein .

Over the years, more than 80 women have accused the Oscar-winning producer of sexual assault and harassment.

During his initial New York trial in January 2020, six women testified that Weinstein had sexually assaulted them .

However, A New York Court of Appeals ruled on April 25 that Weinstein did not receive a fair trial when a jury convicted him of two felony sex charges.

The appeals court panel determined that Judge James Burke, who oversaw the New York trial, made crucial mistakes during the proceeding.

Burke erroneously allowed the testimony of witnesses who accused Weinstein of sexual assault. Still, their accusations were not part of the indictment for which he was on trial, according to the appeals court.

Weinstein has denied any wrongdoing.

Harvey Weinstein Trial Timeline

• October 2017 : The New York Times reports the film mogul, whose Miramax film company won its first Oscar in 1997 for The English Patient, has reached legal settlements with eight women who accused him of sexual harassment spanning over 30 years. He is fired from his company, his wife leaves him, and the #Metoo movement is born.
• May 2018 : Weinstein was arrested on charges of rape and a criminal sex act involving alleged assaults of two women.
• June 2018 : He pleads not guilty to both charges and a third charge. One of them is eventually dropped.
• December 2019 : Weinstein agrees to a $25 million settlement with a number of women who accused him of wrongdoing.
• January 2020 : The Los Angeles County District Attorney announces a criminal indictment against Weinstein.
• That same month, Weinstein’s New York trial began.
• February 2020 : After five days of deliberation, a jury in New York convicted Weinstein of rape in the third degree and sexual assault in the first degree.
• March 2020 : Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years and transferred to maximum security prison.
• October 2022 : Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial begins.
• December 2022 : A jury convicts Weinstein of raping a model in 2013.
• February 2023 : Weinstein is sentenced to an additional 16 years in prison.
• April 2024 : His New York conviction is overturned by a New York Appeals Court, and a new trial is ordered.
• July 2024 : A judge sets Weinstein’s retrial for November 12.