Harvey Weinstein Is Finally in Jail and Has Been Accused of 16 More Sexual Assaults

I’d really hoped that, following him being found guilty in February, the news about Harvey Weinstein would be relatively light if not completely nonexistent until his eventual sentencing, which is set for March 11. Given that alleged predators are publishing and then not publishing books, and confessed rapists are being given major awards, I was looking forward to the potential of having to hear about one less scumbag somersaulting through the news cycle.

Unfortunately, I am here once again to write about Harvey Weinstein who, as we learned last week, was absolutely not in jail where he was supposed to be and was instead sitting in a leather armchair watching TV and complaining to hospital staff about how he didn’t want to go.

The good news is that Weinstein is now, finally, in jail. Sort of. According to the Associated Press, Weinstein was moved to an infirmary unit on Rikers Island on Thursday following a heart procedure he had while at Belleview Hospital. “He’s lucid and realistic about everything,” Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s lawyer said in a statement, which doesn’t seem entirely true because Weinstein is still apparently planning to appeal the conviction.

Something he’ll want to consider in that appeal are the sixteen new sexual assaults he’s been accused of per the sentencing memo that was filed by Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi the day after he was moved to Rikers.

While only six women testified in his trial, these new allegations bring the total number of women to have accused Weinstein of assault to 111, according to the crisis consultancy Temin & Co. Most disturbingly, the memo explicates on an encounter Weinstein had with a woman in a restaurant that concluded by detailing that he “ejaculated in a nearby potted plant,” which is a sentence I could have gone my entire life without reading.

In the memo, Illuzzi emphasizes that Weinstein’s case will set the tone for future cases of this nature, as hopefully more powerful men begin to be held accountable for their actions, and notes that Weinstein’s sentencing should reflect that.

While he is still on trial in Los Angeles, he could see up to twenty-five years in prison for his New York conviction, which really doesn’t seem like long enough.

Update, 3/9: This post has been updated to note the number of accusers is 111, the article previously stated “over 80.”