Manhattan prosecutors told a judge in New York on Wednesday that they are evaluating more claims of sexual misconduct against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and could potentially seek a new indictment against him before his scheduled retrial on rape and sexual assault charges.
Assistant district attorney Nicole Blumberg said during a court hearing that additional people have come forward with assault claims, and prosecutors are currently assessing which fall under the statute of limitations.
Blumberg said some potential survivors that were not ready to step forward during Weinstein’s first New York trial may now be willing to testify.
When asked by the judge, Curtis Farber, whether there was a possibility of prosecutors filing a new indictment, Blumberg replied: “Yes, your honor.”
Blumberg said prosecutors would be in a better position to update the court on the direction of the case at the end of June.
Farber set the next hearing date for 9 July. The retrial on the rape charge is tentatively scheduled for some time after Labor Day this September.
Weinstein appeared before a judge on Wednesday afternoon in the same New York City courthouse where the former president, Donald Trump, is on trial and the jury in his criminal case began deliberations.
Weinstein is awaiting a retrial on rape charges after his 2020 conviction was tossed out in April. Wednesday’s court hearing was held to address various legal issues related to the upcoming trial.
Weinstein’s original trial was held in the same courtroom where Trump is on trial now, but the two men did not bump into each other. Weinstein is in custody and is brought to and from the courtroom under guard, appearing in a courtroom on a different floor from the one where Trump is on trial.
Weinstein was convicted of rape in the third degree for an attack on Jessica Mann, an aspiring actor, and of sexually assaulting Miriam Haley, a former TV and film production assistant.
New York’s highest court threw out those convictions after determining that the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case.
Weinstein, 72, has maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
The New York ruling reopened a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures. The #MeToo era began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein. Leaders of the movement said the cause would go on.
Last week, prosecutors asked Judge Farber to remind Weinstein’s lawyers not to discuss or disparage potential witnesses in public ahead of the retrial.
Weinstein, who had been serving a 23-year sentence in New York, was also convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and was sentenced to 16 additional years in prison in California.