Producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of a felony sex crime and rape, three years after several bombshell reports exposed his history of alleged sexual assault and kick-started the #MeToo movement, the New York Times reports.
He is due to be sentenced on March 11.
The guilty verdicts covered just two of the five charges against Weinstein and he was notably found not guilty on the weightiest charge, predatory sexual assault, which would have established a pattern of predatory behaviour. Still, Weinstein faces up to 25 years in prison for the felony sex crime charge, while the third-degree rape charge carries a potential sentence of probation to up to four years in prison.
“The jury’s verdict sends a powerful message to the world of just how much progress has been made since the Weinstein Silence Breakers ignited an unstoppable movement,” Tina Tchen, president and CEO of the Time’s Up Foundation, said in a statement. “In two short years, Time’s Up helped pass new laws to help survivors achieve justice, helped thousands of individuals take on harassers and abusers in court, and changed the game when it comes to how matters of safety and equity in the workplace are understood.” “While we celebrate this historic moment, our fight to fix the broken system that has allowed serial abusers like Harvey Weinstein to abuse women in the first place continues,” she added. “Abusers everywhere and the powerful forces that protect them should be on notice: There’s no going back.”
While at least 100 women have accused Weinstein of sexual assault, the charges in his New York trial were related to two victims, Mimi Haleyi, a former production assistant, and Jessica Mann, an aspiring actress at the time she accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 2013. The felony sex crime charge pertained to Haleyi’s accusation that Weinstein assaulted her at his apartment in 2006, while Mann accused Weinstein of raping her at a hotel in 2013.