Former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to a new indictment filed by New York prosecutors in connection with sexual assault allegations.
A grand jury on Monday returned the indictment that adds two new charges of predatory sexual assault against the 67-year-old. Prosecutors had said the indictment will allow accuser Annabella Sciorra, an actress best known for appearing in “The Sopranos,” to share her story during the trial to bolster her case.
It will likely push back Weinstein’s trial, which was scheduled for Sept. 9. Prosecutors’ decision to ask the grand jury to consider a new indictment so close to the trial date was highly unusual.
Weinstein had already been facing five felony charges, two of which carry a maximum sentence of life behind bars.
Sciorra told The New Yorker that Weinstein raped her around 1992, when she was filming a movie backed by his company Miramax called “The Night We Never Met” and he offered to drive her home.
“Harvey had dropped me off before, so I didn’t really expect anything out of the ordinary ― I expected just to be dropped off,” she said.
Although she made it upstairs to her apartment without incident, Sciorra said it wasn’t long before she heard a knock at the door. Weinstein pushed his way in, she told the magazine, and immediately began unbuttoning his shirt.
“This is not happening,” she reportedly told him. “You’ve got to go. You have to leave. Get out of my apartment.”
Roughly 70 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct spanning several decades. He has denied wrongdoing.