(Bloomberg) -- Harvey Weinstein, whose 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court earlier this year, is facing a new indictment, though the disgraced movie mogul’s poor health may affect a planned November trial date.
The new charges were disclosed in court Thursday by Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Nicole Blumberg. They remain under seal, however, and the prosecutor gave no indication of when they would be made public.
Weinstein’s conviction and subsequent sentencing to 23 years in prison were hailed as landmarks in the #MeToo movement. But New York’s highest court in April tossed the verdict, saying prosecutors improperly relied on trial testimony by women whose claims against Weinstein weren’t part of the case.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg vowed to retry Weinstein, 72, and a new trial had originally been set for Nov. 12. Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo said at a Sept. 3 hearing that prosecutors hoped to add charges based on a new grand jury convened to investigate allegations involving three other victims.
But Thursday’s hearing took place as Weinstein is recovering from emergency heart surgery at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital, where he was rushed earlier this week from Rikers Island.
New York state court Judge Curtis Farber said he had recently conducted a sealed hearing on Weinstein’s medical condition at which defense lawyers and a doctor said there was a risk of heart failure. Farber said he had concerns about whether the Nov. 12 trial date was still “viable” based on Weinstein’s health. He noted that it was the third time Weinstein had been transferred to Bellevue.
Farber granted a defense request that Weinstein be kept at Bellevue instead of being returned to Rikers, with another hearing on his health scheduled for Sept. 18.
Weinstein, the producer of hit movies including Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love, also faces a 16-year sentence stemming from a separate rape conviction in California. He has denied wrongdoing in the New York case.
(Updates with detail from hearing.)
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