On October 5, 2017, the world changed with a headline: "Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades." New York Times Reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey exposed Harvey Weinstein's history of sexual harassment and assault. Ronan Farrow offered further details in New Yorker stories. More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of assault.
Ever since that autumn, Weinstein's name has remained a fixture in the news. The documentary Untouchable: The Rise and Fall of Harvey Weinstein, out September 2 on Hulu, and the new book She Said by reporters Kantor and Twohey, offers further insight into the Weinstein machine. We know how he fell — but where is he now?
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Simply put, the 67-year-old disgraced movie producer is in the middle of a heated legal battle that may send him to prison for life. Weinstein currently faces five felony charges from two unnamed accusers. Charges include two counts of predatory sexual assault, one count of criminal sexual act in the first degree, one count of first-degree rape, and one count of third-degree rape. A sixth additional charge was dropped in October 2018 after prosectors found inconsistencies in the accuser's story.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and denied accusations of nonconsensual sex. If convicted, the charges carry a minimum sentence of ten years in prison.
In December 2018, Weinstein tried — and failed — to get the charges dismissed. So, Weinstein will eventually go to court – but don't hold your breath for the trial, which has been delayed three times. Originally scheduled for June 3 then pushed September 9, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Burke moved the trial's start date to January 6, 2020 following a new indictment in August 2019.
The new indictment has major implications: Three accusers, likely including Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra, will testify against Weinstein's "prior bad acts" during the trial. Allegedly, Weinstein raped Sciorra in 1993. However, Weinstein cannot be charged directly because the statute of limitations has run out. The three additional accusers do not have charges against Weinstein, but can establish his pattern of behavior with their testimony.
In August, Weinstein's lawyers motioned to move the trial from New York City to either Long Island or Albany, claiming that it's impossible to find an "impartial" jury in Manhattan because of news coverage.
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As for Weinstein himself? Weinstein must live in New York while out on bail, but is not under house arrest. He has been selling many of his properties around the country, like a waterfront Hamptons estate and a Westport, CT mansion. He still owns his West Hollywood, CA house. Currently, he lives in a rented cottage in Westchester County, NY, close to his ex-wife Georgina Chapman and children in Westchester County, New York. He was recently almost in a car accident while swerving to avoid a deer.
Apparently, he's planning a comeback. According to a 2018 hearing, Weinstein still reads scripts for potential movie projects. It seems he's serious: In April 2019, Weinstein was spotted eating at Cipriani Dolci in Grand Central Terminal with a movie producer.
But will a comeback actually be possible, now that his secrets have been exposed?
Previously, Weinstein's power, privilege, and team of ex-Mossad agents (really!) suppressed his victim's stories. Since that 2017 New York Times article, victims have been speaking — first to reporters and now, with Untouchable, to documentary filmmakers. It's impossible not to be affected by the long pauses in Untouchable's interviews, when women must pause, collect themselves, and keep talking.
Untouchable first premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, an event that holds significance in Weinstein's story. In the '80s and '90s, Weinstein cemented himself as a Hollywood titan by acquiring indie films from Sundance, like Clerks and Reservoir Dogs, and turning them into worldwide hits under his distribution company, Miramax. But Weinstein also used those trips to Park City, UT for a darker purpose: Actress Rose McGowan attests that Weinstein raped her in a hotel during he festival.
The release of Unbreakable and She Said release might be a full-circle moment, but the story is hardly over. Progressions in Weinstein's trial will be in the news for months to come.