[Politics] Harvey Weinstein hospitalised after conviction overturned

[Wolf.17]

 

Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been hospitalised just days after his 2020 rape conviction in New York was overturned, his lawyer has said.

Arthur Aidala said he was moved to a Manhattan hospital on Friday. He remains in jail after being separately convicted of rape in Los Angeles.

Mr Aidala said his client was "somewhat of a train wreck health wise".

"It seems like he needs a lot of help, physically. He's got a lot of problems," he told AP.

Later, in a statement to CBS, the BBC's US partner, Mr Aidala said Mr Weinstein had been taken to hospital after the New York City Department of Correction determined that he needed "immediate medical attention".

"A myriad of tests are being performed on Harvey and he is being kept for observation," he said.

A spokesperson with the corrections department said that Weinstein remained in custody at Bellevue Hospital.

He was moved on Friday to the Rikers Island jail complex from the Mohawk Correctional Facility where he had been since 2023.

Weinstein's lawyers have previously said the one-time movie producer has had a series of health problems, including diabetes, sleep apnea and issues affecting his heart and eyes. In 2020, he spent five days in hospital for ongoing heart problems and chest pains.

Mr Aidala said he is scheduled to meet Weinstein on Monday before his court appearance on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.

Earlier in the week, the New York Court of Appeals overturned Weinstein's conviction on the basis that he did not receive a fair trial, saying that prosecutors in the pivotal #MeToo case called witnesses whose accusations were not part of the charges against him.

The court said that meant he was unfairly tried for past behaviour, and ordered a new trial.

At his trial in 2020, Weinstein was convicted of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping Jessica Mann, a former aspiring actress, in 2013. He was jailed for 23 years.

Weinstein's defence team said sex between the movie executive and the accusers had been consensual.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68913116