The extradition of the disgraced movie producer from New York to Los Angeles has been put on hold as his legal team insists on his staying in the Big Apple.
- May 1, 2021
AceShowbiz - Harvey Weinstein will remain a prisoner in New York for at least 30 more days as his attorneys challenge plans to extradite him to Los Angeles to face rape and sexual assault charges.
At a court hearing in New York on Friday (30Apr21), prosecutors filed new paperwork that gave the disgraced producer's legal team until 30 May to challenge the extradition.
Weinstein faces charges of sexually assaulting five women in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles over the course of a decade.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles charged him with four counts of forcible rape, four counts of forcible oral copulation, two counts of sexual battery and one count of sexual penetration by force at the beginning of last year (20).
Weinstein has been in custody at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York since March, 2020, after a jury in Manhattan convicted him of rape. He was sentenced to 23 years behind bars.
Weinstein has been accused of sexual assault, misconduct and harassment by more than 80 women following 2017 exposes in the New York Times and the New Yorker.
Weinstein is still appealing his conviction and has denied all wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, his lawyer argued against his client being sent to Los Angeles for "humanitarian" reasons, explaining the producer was technically blind, had major dental issues, and was suffering from cardiac issues, diabetes, back pain, and sleep apnea.
"We're not trying to avoid what is going to happen in California," the attorney claimed. "We believe there is not only a defence to these charges, we believe there is a very good defence to these charges [and] we believe there will be an acquittal... Mr. Weinstein isn't going anywhere."
If found guilty in Los Angeles, Weinstein could face decades more behind bars.
