Harvey Weinstein faces new sexual assault charge in LA

Tribune Content Agency

LOS ANGELES — Harvey Weinstein has been charged with an additional count of sexual assault in connection with an alleged 2010 attack at a Beverly Hills hotel, Los Angeles County prosecutors announced Friday.

Weinstein, who had already been charged with sexually assaulting two women in separate incidents in L.A. County, will now face an additional charge of sexual battery by restraint in connection with a May 2010 incident, District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement.

“We are continuing to build and strengthen our case,” Lacey said in a statement. “As we gather corroborating evidence, we have reached out to other possible sexual assault victims. If we find new evidence of a previously unreported crime, as we did here, we will investigate and determine whether additional criminal charges should be filed.”

Prosecutors said Weinstein’s accuser in the 2010 case was first interviewed by law enforcement last October. Investigators believed she could be a corroborating witness at Weinstein’s pending Los Angeles trial, where he faces charges of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint.

Weinstein, 68, was sentenced to 23 years in prison last month after being found guilty of rape and committing a criminal sexual act in New York. He is being held in a state prison, where sources said he tested positive for the coronavirus several weeks ago.

Calls and emails to Weinstein’s spokesman and Los Angeles-based criminal defense attorney were not immediately returned.

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