Seven years after sexual assault and harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein turbocharged the #MeToo movement, the ex-movie mogul faces a new sex crime charge from an accuser who’s never told her story publicly, the Associated Press reports. While awaiting retrial on other sex charges in a landmark #MeToo case, Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new charge of forcing oral sex on a woman in a Manhattan hotel in spring 2006. Prosecutors released no details about her, and Weinstein’s lawyer said he had no idea who she is. But an attorney said that she represents the woman and that she has never made her accusation public. “She will be fully prepared to speak her truth at trial to hold Mr. Weinstein accountable before a jury of his peers,” the lawyer, Lindsay Goldbrum, said in a statement. She said the woman doesn’t want to be identified for now, and the law firm declined to say anything more about her or her accusation.
According to the indictment and another court document, the alleged assault — the specific charge is a “criminal sex act” — happened at a lower Manhattan hotel between April 29, 2006, and May 6 of that year. Weinstein has long maintained that he never engaged in any sexual activity that wasn’t consensual. Defense attorney Arthur Aidala reiterated Wednesday that his client “never forced himself on anyone.” The 72-year-old Weinstein, who is recovering from emergency surgery, came to court in a wheelchair, carrying two novels with him. He appeared to watch the proceeding intently. The once-powerful studio boss became a #MeToo archvillain in 2017, when reporting by The New York Times and The New Yorker pulled back a curtain on claims about his behavior that had long been known around Hollywood.
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