Harvey Weinstein may face more NY sex assault charges after Britain drops case
Global News
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service, which authorized two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein in 2022, announced Thursday that it decided to discontinue the proceedings.
Spared from prosecution in Britain on Thursday, Harvey Weinstein now faces the prospect of a new indictment in New York, where prosecutors retrying the disgraced movie mogul’s rape case are taking steps to potentially charge him with up to three additional sex assaults.
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service, which authorized two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein in 2022, announced Thursday that it decided to discontinue the proceedings because there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.’’
“We have explained our decision to all parties,’’ the CPS said in a statement. ’’We would always encourage any potential victims of sexual assault to come forward and report to police, and we will prosecute wherever our legal test is met.”
At the same time, the Manhattan district attorney’s office in New York has begun presenting evidence to a grand jury of up to three previously uncharged allegations against Weinstein -– two sexual assaults in the mid-2000s and another sexual assault in 2016.
The New York grand jury’s term expires Friday, and a vote on an indictment could happen by the end of the week, though it’s possible the process could extend beyond that. Prosecutors said they would seek to combine any new charges with ones previously brought against Weinstein so that they could be tried together.
In April, New York’s top court overturned Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault convictions and ordered a new trial. The state’s Court of Appeals found that the judge in the 2020 trial unfairly allowed testimony from women whose claims against Weinstein weren’t part of the case.
Prosecutors shared some information about the additional allegations that the grand jury is weighing at a court conference on Tuesday.
They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.
