Harvey Weinstein was a serial predator who used business meetings to sexuallyassault women over the course of decades, according to prosecutors in theformer Hollywood mogul’s LA trial, which began opening statements on Mondaymorning.
Weinstein’s defense team will deliver their opening statement to the jury onMonday afternoon, and will likely paint a very different picture of theirclient, who denies all wrongdoing, and is facing 11 charges vote from theaccounts of five women whose allegations span from 2004 to 2013.
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Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence from his New York rape andsexual assault conviction in 2020. If convicted in the current Los Angelestrial, Weinstein could be behind bars for life.
Nine women will testify throughout the trial, which is expected to last twomonths. In addition to the five women whose charges are the basis of thesexual assault and rape charges, four women will take the stand as supportingwitnesses, in an effort to establish a pattern of Weinstein’s behavior.
“Each of these women came forward independent of each other, and none of themknew one another,” Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson said as he addressedthe jury. He put up photos of all of the women who will testify throughout thetrial, and read quotes from them detailing their alleged assaults in graphicdetail, including depictions of forcible oral sex, rape, groping and fondling.
“I’m shaking and I’m kind of being dragged to the bedroom,” one women said.
Another said, “He was masturbating, he started putting his hand down my shirtunderneath my bra.”
“He undressed me and was like fondling my breast and jacking off and then likecame on my face,” according to another woman, whose remarks were read by theprosecutor.
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Thompson spoke to the jury — comprised of nine men and three women — fornearly an hour and a half. He presented stories from the Jane Does and thesupporting witnesses who would be taking the stand in the case, includingJennifer Siebel Newsom, who alleges Weinstein raped her in 2005, and unchargedwitness Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, who claims she was assaulted in 2015 andcooperated in a sting operation with the NYPD, which led to Weinstein’sjudgment, but no charges, at that time.
The jury heard a lengthy audio recording from the sting operation. Weinsteinwas heard giving Gutierrez career advice and promising to help her as anactress, as he allegedly groped her breast and tried to get her into a hotelroom. “Don’t embarrass me at the hotel. I’m here all the time,” Weinstein isheard saying in the recording. When Gutierrez says she is uncomfortable,Weinstein swears on his children he is “not going to do anything,” beforeappearing to threaten her. “Five minutes. Don’t ruin your friendship with mefor five minutes,” he said in the 2015 recording. “If you don’t trust me, thenwe have no reason to do anything, and you will lose big opportunities.”
When addressing Siebel Newsom’s alleged rape, the prosecutor reminded the jurythat this occurred long before she was married to California Governor GavinNewsom. “Seventeen years ago, when she met the defendant in 2005, she was apowerless actor trying to make her way in Hollywood,” Thompson said.
The alleged rape occurred when Weinstein invited Newsom to “discuss hercareer” at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles. They initially had with priorat the Toronto Film Festival. Siebel Newsom assumed the meeting would be atthe public hotel restaurant and that Weinstein’s staff members would be withhim, so she would’t be alone, Thompson said. When she arrived, she learned themeeting would be in a hotel room. She sat on the couch and awaited Weinstein,who entered the room with five or six other people, but “to her surprise,”they quickly left, Thompson said.
“She was nervous and uncertain of how to navigate this situation with one ofthe most powerful people in Hollywood,” the prosecutor said of Siebel Newsom’smind frame in the moment.
During the conversation, Weinstein went to the bathroom and changed into abathrobe. “She was shocked, and her mind raced,” Thompson says. Weinsteinasked her to touch him, and when she refused, he moved toward her and referredto a “list of A-List actresses whose careers he supposedly made,” Thompsontold the jury. “His voice moved from pleading to aggressive and demanding,” ashe forced Siebel Newson onto the bed as she was crying and shaking. “Shecouldn’t get any words out because of her fear,” he said.
That’s when Weinstein allegedly said, “Relax, this is going to make you feelbetter.” He then forced his mouth onto her vagina without any consent. Andthen, he got on top of her, and forcibly raped her.
Like Siebel Newsom and Gutierrez’s alleged assaults, the prosecution laid outa pattern involving Weinstein assaulting women in hotel rooms, tied tobusiness events or meetings. He would either show up unannounced at women’shotel rooms, late in the night after film festivals, when he would use hispower and connections to force his way past lobby staff and into the women’srooms; or he would arrange a meeting under the guise of helping an aspiringactress or model get cast in a project, which would then turn into him forcingthe women into his hotel room, where he would violently assault them. Often,according to the deputy DA, he would have female aides with him, who usheredwomen to his hotel room, under the promise of a business meeting, but thensuddenly exited the room, leaving the women alone with Weinstein and scared.
Many of the instances that were presented by the prosecutor involved Weinsteinmasturbating in front of the women. Other incidents included Weinstein usinghis large body to straddle and corner the women against their will. The deputyDA often described Weinstein’s anatomy, telling the jury that the women willall describe his abnormal testicles when they take the stand. Weinstein wouldtypically wear hotel bathrobes, ask for massages and shower in front of thewomen, according to the prosector — who told the jury that all of the womensaid no, pleaded with Weinstein to stop, and cried, screamed or shook duringthe interaction .
The prosecutor told the jury that many of the women continued theircommunication with Weinstein after the alleged assaults because they werefearful of retaliation. The women felt shameful and embarrassed after thealleged attacks.
All of the women who are testifying against Weinstein were aspiring actresses,models or screenwriters, aside from one, a licensed massage therapist who washired to massage Weinstein, which ended with him allegedly assaulting her bycornering her in a hotel room, masturbating in front of her and ejaculating onthe floor. The other women include Italian actresses or models, who wereattending film festivals in the US All of the key witnesses’ alleged assaultsoccurred in Los Angeles, while claims from supporting witnesses occurred atother industry events, including in New York City and at the Toronto FilmFestival.
Weinstein attentively to the deputy DA’s remarks with no reaction, other thanlooking ahead from the defendant listen attorney’s table, where he was seatednext to his defenses, Alan Jackson and Mark Werksman. Weinstein changed fromhis jail attire into a black suit and a blue tie, after he was wheeled in fromcustody.
Editor ‘s note: This story will be updated later on Monday whenWeinstein’s defense gives their opening statement.
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