Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced in Manhattan to 15 years in prison for a felony sex crime, marking another #MeToo reckoning.
Weinstein’s sentencing on Wednesday for sexually assaulting former TV production assistant Miriam Haley followed a legal process spanning more than six years, during which New York’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction. A second jury found Weinstein guilty again at a retrial last year.
Once a powerful figure in the entertainment industry and an Oscar-winning producer of hits like “Shakespeare in Love,” “Pulp Fiction,” and “Chocolat,” Weinstein’s downfall began rapidly after sexual assault allegations in 2017 ignited the #MeToo movement.
Weinstein, 74, is expected to appeal and maintains his innocence, asserting he never raped or sexually assaulted anyone. He is now likely to remain incarcerated into his 80s. Seated in a wheelchair, he was quickly escorted from the courtroom after the sentencing, while some of his accusers embraced and wiped away tears.
Haley, 49, delivered a victim impact statement in court on Wednesday morning, detailing seven years of public smear campaigns and humiliation orchestrated by Weinstein, his legal team, and allegedly paid podcasters aiming to damage her reputation.
Haley stated that her experience following the assault had “already been a life sentence” for her and implored the judge to consider this.
Due to a series of retrials, appeals, and judicial proceedings, Weinstein has been incarcerated since his 2018 arrest and is currently serving time in a prison medical ward.
Weinstein, first publicly accused of wrongdoing in 2017, was detained a year later. In 2024, New York’s highest court overturned the original 2020 conviction that had sentenced the former Hollywood producer to 23 years in prison, ruling that the inclusion of extraneous, non-indicted testimony had compromised the fairness of the trial.
Prosecutors attempted to retry the case last June, but it ended in a split verdict after the jury foreperson refused to deliberate further amid a jury room dispute. Weinstein was convicted of a first-degree criminal sex act on a separate count at that time.
Weinstein is also awaiting resentencing in a separate rape case in Los Angeles.
