NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie mogul, was sentenced in Manhattan to 15 years in prison Wednesday for a felony sex crime in another #MeToo reckoning.
Weinstein’s sentencing for sexually assaulting one-time TV production assistant Miriam Haley followed a legal odyssey spanning more than six years. His 2020 conviction was overturned by New York’s highest court. A second jury found Weinstein guilty again at a retrial last year.
Once among the most powerful figures in the entertainment industry, Weinstein was an Oscar-winning producer whose hits included “Shakespeare in Love,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Chocolat.” But his downfall came quickly after sexual assault allegations in 2017 set off the #MeToo movement.
Weinstein, 74, is expected to appeal and maintains that he never raped or sexually assaulted anyone. He is now likely to remain behind bars well into his 80s. Seated in a wheelchair, he was quickly moved out of the courtroom after the sentencing, while some of his accusers hugged and brushed away tears.
Weinstein and his victim both spoke in court
Weinstein faced up to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting Haley at his Manhattan apartment in 2006. He has already served more than six years as his case cycled through the criminal justice system. Haley gave her account of the assault at two trials, and again addressed the court Wednesday.
“Having been sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein has had a devastating effect on my life and sense of security that may never go away. Making the decision to speak up will have me looking over my shoulder for years to come,” Haley said.
“It’s a life sentence for me,” she added.
Minutes later, Weinstein apologized while reiterating his innocence.
“Reflecting on all that has happened since 2017 has helped me recognize how my past conduct has negatively affected others. I live with many regrets and sincerely apologize to anyone I have affected with my actions,” he said.
Some of his accusers who were in court shook their heads while he spoke.
Weinstein is the face of MeToo, judge says
Judge Curtis Farber said Weinstein was once a king in the movie industry, “but recognition for these achievements will pale in comparison to what you did.”
He said Weinstein is now known as “a sexual predator, the literal face of the MeToo movement.”
The judge said Weinstein treated women as “mere objects to be played with and discarded” and still hasn’t accepted responsibility, portraying himself as a victim during jailhouse interviews.
Haley afterward said she was happy with the sentence, while saying it’s clear that Weinstein has not acknowledged what he did. “I think he still feels entitled, and that’s part of the problem,” she said.
Haley’s lawyer, the famed victims’ rights attorney Gloria Allred, rejected any suggestion that Weinstein’s sentencing means the MeToo era is over.
“Women are empowered in a way they have never been before,” she said.
Why Weinstein is being sentenced a second time
Weinstein was originally sentenced to 23 years in prison after a jury convicted him of assaulting Haley and raping an aspiring actress, Jessica Mann, in 2013.
Tried for a second time last year, he was again convicted of a first-degree criminal sex act for assaulting Haley, who has also gone by the name Mimi Haleyi. In a messy split verdict, the jury acquitted him of forcibly performing oral sex on another woman, Kaja Sokola, and could not reach a verdict on a rape charge involving Mann.
After another retrial ended in a hung jury in May, Manhattan prosecutors dropped the rape charge rather than pursue a fourth trial after Mann said she could not bear to testify again.
Weinstein’s health issues pushed the defense to ask for leniency
Defense lawyer Jacob Kaplan wanted three more years on top of the six years Weinstein already served, saying a longer sentence would make it more likely that Weinstein dies in prison.
Weinstein has been in the hospital six times since 2025, Kaplan said, while dealing with blood cancer, congestive heart failure, and kidney issues.
Weinstein is also awaiting resentencing in a separate rape case in Los Angeles. A California appeals court upheld the 2022 conviction but threw out his original 16-year sentence because the judge had considered his New York convictions — that were later thrown out — as an aggravating factor.
After shuffling between state prison, where he tested positive for COVID-19 early in the pandemic, and New York City’s notorious Rikers Island complex, Weinstein has been housed at a medical unit for inmates at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.
Haley describes the assault that led to Weinstein’s conviction
Haley, 49, is a former entertainment producer now working in advertising.
She said she met Weinstein through a mutual connection and worked briefly as a production assistant on “Project Runway,” a reality competition show that he produced.
Haley said she accepted an invitation to visit Weinstein’s apartment and after chatting briefly, he lunged to kiss her, she testified. She said she rebuffed him, but he grabbed her, forcibly backed her into a bedroom and sexually assaulted her, ignoring her pleas to stop.
She recalled Weinstein asking, “Don’t you think we’re much closer now?” after either the alleged assault or a subsequent occasion when she says she had unwanted, but not forced, sex with him.
She also recalled telling him after the second encounter, “You know you can’t keep doing this.”
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Haley, Sokola and Mann have done.
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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.
