Former Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein is expected to surrender himself to the New York Police Department on Friday morning in Lower Manhattan to face sexual abuse and rape charges against him filed by multiple women.
In one case, the federal prosecutors in New York will charge the movie mogul with first and third-degree rape and in the second case, Weinstein will be charged with a first-degree sex act, said the sources.
On Thursday, attorney Benjamin Brafman, who is representing Weinstein declined to say or comment anything on whether his client would surrender himself in. The federal prosecutors in New York have also started an investigation into the sexual abuse allegations against Weinstein, according to The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
The investigation conducted by federal prosecutors will check on whether Weinstein lured any of the accusers to travel over state lines with him, with a purpose of sexually attacking them, said a person having information about the investigation. Over 80 women across the world have filed rape, assault and other sexual abuse accusations against the disgraced Hollywood producer. The news of him surrendering has been welcomed by Weinstein’s accusers as a sign that things are finally moving in their favour.
The allegations made by dozens of women came out in public for the first time last year in October, when The New York Times and The New Yorker in 2017 reported that Weinstein had sexually abused many of his female assistants, executives as well as actresses with who he had worked.
Among the actresses, it is Paz de la Huerta who came forward and claimed that Weinstein raped her twice in the year 2010.
The actresses said that the movie mogul threatened to ruin their film careers if they went to the authorities with their accounts.
