New York prosecutors revealed shocking new allegations against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein as his retrial on rape and sexual assault charges got underway on Wednesday.
The ailing 73-year-old former producer has previously been accused of sexually assaulting aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and raping production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006.
But last year, the New York Court of Appeals astonishingly ruled that Weinstein did not receive a fair trial – and tossed out his 23-year sentence for the alleged crimes.
In the retrial, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is once again accusing Weinstein of these crimes – as well as an additional charge of sexual assault stemming from a 2006 incident with an aspiring model and actress, Kaja Sokola.
He is criminally charged with forcing oral sex on her at the time, but she also accused him in a civil lawsuit of groping her against her will four years earlier, when she was just 16 years old.
Detailing the incident in court on Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey told jurors how the now-convicted criminal first met Sokola in 2002, when she first moved to the United States to pursue an acting career.
She claimed the once-renowned movie and television producer preyed on the teen’s desire to be in the movies when he invited her to lunch to discuss potential acting jobs, but detoured to his apartment and demanded she take off her shirt.
He then allegedly told the teenager, ‘This is what happens in the industry. You have to be comfortable removing your clothes,’ Lucey claimed, according to the Mirror US.
New York prosecutors revealed shocking new allegations against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein as his retrial on rape and sexual assault charges got under way on Wednesday
Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey detailed Weinstein’s alleged interaction with model Kaja Sokola (pictured) when she was just 16 years old
The movie producer then allegedly brought the teenager to a bathroom, where he took off his clothes and put her hand on his penis.
At that point, Lucey claimed, Weinstein told Sokola: ‘See it wasn’t so bad? You’ve got to work on your stubbornness.
‘This changed Kaia in ways she’s still dealing with today,’ the assistant district attorney said in her opening statement.
The allegations were previously detailed in a civil suit settled with Disney, Bob Weinstein and Miramax for $3 million, but Sokola was not identified in the lawsuit.
Yet Weinstein is not facing charges for that alleged interaction – and is instead being charged for a different incident in 2006.
In that case, prosecutors say, Weinstein invited Sokola – who maintained contact with the producer despite the first encounter – and her sister to a Manhattan hotel room to read some scripts.
There, he allegedly ordered her to undress, held her down on a bed, and performed oral sex on her while she tearfully implored him not to do so, Lucey said.
In the weeks after, Sokola was photographed with Weinstein and a third person at an event, and his company wrote her an acting-school recommendation, the prosecutor said. Lucey told jurors that power imbalances often ’cause victims to behave in ways that laypersons possibly might not expect.’
But after other allegations emerged against Weinstein in 2017, Sokola sued.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to the two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act and one count of third-degree rape
At issue in the retrial is previous sexual assault charges against aspiring actress Jessica Mann (left) and production assistant Mimi Haleyi that were dropped last year. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has revived those charges
Lucey made similar claims about Weinstein’s other alleged victims.
She said that Haleyi was doing production work for Weinstein in the early 2000s, and that on July 10, 2006, he sent a car to bring her to his New York City apartment.
There, Weinstein allegedly started to ‘kiss and grope her’ before he pushed her onto a bad and got on top of her – despite her telling him repeatedly to stop, prosecutors claim.
Mann, meanwhile, met Weinstein around 2012 when they met up presumably to discuss her acting career.
The producer was allegedly able to get Mann up to a private room at a restaurant and asked her to take her shirt off so he could give her a massage, prosecutors said. Mann later gave him a massage when he asked for one.
The following year, Mann claimed Weinstein lured her to a hotel room and raped her three times, Lucey said.
She then went on to argue that all three women only maintained their relationships with Weinstein due to his power in Hollywood.
‘Why did the defendant hold this level of power and control in the eyes of these three women? … It´s because Harvey Weinstein defined the field,’ she said.
‘He knew how tempting promises of success were. He produced, he choreographed, he therefore directed, their ultimate silence for years.’
Weinstein’s defense attorney Arthur Aidala (pictured speaking with Weinstein on Wednesday) portrayed his accusers as willing partners in a showbiz quid pro quo
But Weinstein’s defense attorney Arthur Aidala countered by portraying Weinstein’s accusers as willing partners in a showbiz quid pro quo.
‘The casting couch is not a crime scene,’ Aidala told the majority-female jury. He then compared prosecutors´ allegations to the preview of a movie that ‘falls flat on its face.’
He conceded that Weinstein did ‘fool around’ with the alleged victims, but argued they did so ‘consensually’ in an effort to ‘cut the line,’ according to the Independent.
The attorney argued that each of the three alleged victims were ‘flirtatious’ in their interactions with Weinstein because he ‘could change the trajectory of their lives and make dreams come true.’
Addressing Sokola’s allegations directly, Aidala claimed they were ‘based on a lie’ as he argued that the young model has a ‘lot of problems’ including an alleged eating disorder and alcohol addiction.
The attorney then went on to praise the disgraced movie mogul, speaking to his notoriety in Hollywood and describing him as ‘generous’ and ‘the greatest movie executive, at the very least of his generation.’
Aidala then asked the jury to look at the full picture, calling the alleged incidents ‘minutes’ of the former producer’s larger story.
Weinstein – who did not look at Lucey or the jury during her opening statement – watched intently as his attorney spoke
Weinstein – who did not look at Lucey or the jury during her opening statement – watched intently as his attorney spoke.
He has pleaded not guilty to the two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act and one count of third-degree rape. Meanwhile, his 2020 acquittals on predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape still stand.
The new trial, which will be presided over by state Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber, is expected to last roughly six weeks, Reuters reported.
During that time, Weinstein will be held at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital, rather than the notorious Rikers prison, due to his declining health.
‘We’re hoping that Mr. Weinstein is going to get a fair trial this time,’ Imran Ansari, one of his lawyers, told reporters. ‘He wants to clear his name.’
If he were to be convicted, Weinstein could see decades tacked onto his already lengthy prison sentence.
He is currently serving 16 years for a separate conviction in Los Angeles in 2022 – though his attorneys are also appealing that conviction.
