Harvey Weinstein has been given 16 more years in prison by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on three sex crime charges.
On Thursday, Judge Lisa B. Lench handed down the ruling to the 70-year-old disgraced film producer, who is already serving 23 years in New York state after being convicted of a similar crime in 2020. He has been order to return to California to serve out his sentence after completing his time there, though the New York Times reports that he will likely file an appeal.
In December, Weinstein was found guilty of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object against a woman referred to as "Jane Doe 1" during a 2013 Italia Film Festival in Los Angeles. However, he was acquitted on four other charges, including one count of sexual battery against a masseuse and model-writer Lauren Young, as well as two more charges related to documentarian Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
During his latest sentencing hearing, the anonymous model and actress he assaulted read an emotional victim impact statement where she recounted feeling "heartbroken, empty and alone" after the incident before adding that "there is no prison sentence long enough to undo the damage." Meanwhile, Weinstein has continued to deny any wrongdoing and told Lench that he "never raped or sexually assaulted Jane Doe 1." He also claimed that the entire case was a set up, saying that it was “about money and coming after me."
Weinstein's long history of sexual misconduct and abuse of power as one of the film industry's biggest producers first came to light in 2017 as part of the #MeToo movement, during which he was accused by over 90 women of sexual misconduct with some claims dating as far back as the 1970s.
You can read the New York Times' entire report on Weinstein's latest sentence here.
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