The Fort Worth Press - Weinstein used Hollywood power to rape, court hears

USD -
AED 3.673042
AFN 73.115207
ALL 94.299186
AMD 398.437872
ANG 1.797019
AOA 914.503981
ARS 1053.827213
AUD 1.573564
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.862933
BBD 2.01324
BDT 121.150641
BGN 1.862933
BHD 0.376625
BIF 2952.421775
BMD 1
BND 1.33781
BOB 6.889556
BRL 5.704704
BSD 0.997095
BTN 86.442825
BWP 13.753393
BYN 3.263133
BYR 19600
BZD 2.002858
CAD 1.41895
CDF 2866.000362
CHF 0.899766
CLF 0.024543
CLP 941.83931
CNY 7.254041
CNH 7.259304
COP 4125.160737
CRC 505.596038
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 105.02929
CZK 23.852704
DJF 177.558699
DKK 7.111125
DOP 61.980283
DZD 135.26218
EGP 50.596752
ERN 15
ETB 127.714435
EUR 0.952604
FJD 2.297304
FKP 0.803654
GBP 0.794565
GEL 2.82504
GGP 0.803654
GHS 15.405058
GIP 0.803654
GMD 71.503851
GNF 8620.279087
GTQ 7.69729
GYD 208.610754
HKD 7.784504
HNL 25.419822
HRK 7.225076
HTG 130.466257
HUF 383.42504
IDR 16179.85
ILS 3.54655
IMP 0.803654
INR 86.630504
IQD 1306.186598
IRR 42087.503816
ISK 140.050386
JEP 0.803654
JMD 157.451064
JOD 0.709504
JPY 152.34504
KES 128.970805
KGS 87.450384
KHR 3991.998857
KMF 468.603794
KPW 900.090061
KRW 1441.430383
KWD 0.30832
KYD 0.830881
KZT 495.727961
LAK 21669.762347
LBP 89289.612802
LKR 294.680192
LRD 198.923656
LSL 18.321665
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.892127
MAD 9.954565
MDL 18.645521
MGA 4696.861456
MKD 58.608373
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3461.151901
MOP 7.993904
MRU 39.694242
MUR 46.470378
MVR 15.403739
MWK 1728.818403
MXN 20.306704
MYR 4.434504
MZN 63.903729
NAD 18.321665
NGN 1515.000344
NIO 36.690956
NOK 11.122604
NPR 138.30833
NZD 1.744136
OMR 0.38475
PAB 0.997095
PEN 3.704529
PGK 4.010097
PHP 57.695038
PKR 278.325761
PLN 3.97197
PYG 7856.360432
QAR 3.634995
RON 4.743404
RSD 111.568319
RUB 90.965376
RWF 1398.961756
SAR 3.75053
SBD 8.432716
SCR 14.38015
SDG 601.000339
SEK 10.693204
SGD 1.339104
SHP 0.823587
SLE 22.750371
SLL 20969.505638
SOS 569.795685
SRD 35.223038
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.724103
SYP 13003.016048
SZL 18.317855
THB 33.738038
TJS 10.883269
TMT 3.5
TND 3.157022
TOP 2.342104
TRY 36.275504
TTD 6.766681
TWD 32.680504
TZS 2592.46559
UAH 41.490784
UGX 3669.095585
UYU 43.310949
UZS 12955.184074
VES 61.976954
VND 25390
VUV 123.663246
WST 2.837369
XAF 624.810211
XAG 0.031102
XAU 0.000347
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.763442
XOF 624.810211
XPF 113.597181
YER 248.000331
ZAR 18.37258
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 28.093537
ZWL 321.999592
  • GSK

    -0.3800

    36.17

    -1.05%

  • BCC

    1.0300

    121.63

    +0.85%

  • SCS

    -0.0700

    12.35

    -0.57%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    7.84

    +0.26%

  • BTI

    -0.7900

    38.82

    -2.04%

  • RBGPF

    63.5700

    63.57

    +100%

  • BCE

    0.1900

    23.82

    +0.8%

  • CMSC

    0.0900

    23.5

    +0.38%

  • JRI

    0.0435

    12.83

    +0.34%

  • RIO

    0.0700

    63.36

    +0.11%

  • BP

    0.5100

    35

    +1.46%

  • VOD

    -0.0700

    8.36

    -0.84%

  • RELX

    -0.8400

    51.07

    -1.64%

  • NGG

    -0.5400

    60.73

    -0.89%

  • AZN

    -0.8700

    73.58

    -1.18%

  • CMSD

    0.1872

    23.69

    +0.79%

Weinstein used Hollywood power to rape, court hears
Weinstein used Hollywood power to rape, court hears / Photo: © POOL/AFP

Weinstein used Hollywood power to rape, court hears

Harvey Weinstein used his power and influence in Hollywood to rape women, leaving them terrified for their careers if they stood up to him, a court in Los Angeles heard Monday.

Text size:

The movie mogul exploited both his physical size and his position as "king" of the film industry to attack his victims in hotel rooms, the prosecution said, as a two-month trial began to hear evidence.

"They feared that he could crush their careers if they reported what he had done," Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson told the packed courtroom.

Thompson said jurors would hear from eight women who were sexually assaulted by the "Pulp Fiction" producer, who is credited with making the careers of some of the movie industry's biggest names, including Quentin Tarantino, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow.

"Each of these women came forward independent of each other, and none of them knew one another," he said.

The jury will hear testimony from these women, including how they begged the now-70-year-old to stop, but that he persisted in raping them, forcing them to perform oral sex on him, or making them watch him masturbate.

Showing a picture of Weinstein and former first lady Hillary Clinton, Thompson said the Hollywood kingpin wielded "power with presidential contenders."

Thompson played jurors a series of quotes from the alleged victims, describing Weinstein as "the most powerful person in the industry," and "the king."

"Part of me was thinking should I just make a run for it, but he's a big guy," one of the women told investigators.

"He's big. He’s broad. He’s overweight. He’s domineering," one said.

"I still wanted to work in Hollywood so I was afraid to do anything because of that," one woman said.

"I was scared that if I didn’t play nice something could happen in the room or out of the room because of his power in the industry," another woman said.

In common with most victims of sexual assault, the women in the case are being referred to as "Jane Doe," in order to preserve their anonymity, but one has been publicly identified as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California governor Gavin Newsom.

- #MeToo -

Weinstein, who produced "The English Patient" and "Good Will Hunting," is already serving 23 years in jail in New York after being convicted there of a series of sex crimes.

He now faces 11 more charges, including sexual battery by restraint, forcible rape and forcible oral copulation against women in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles hotels between 2004 and 2013.

If convicted, Weinstein -- who has pleaded not guilty to all counts -- could be sentenced to more than 100 additional years behind bars.

Widespread sexual abuse and harassment allegations against Weinstein exploded in October 2017, and his conviction in New York in 2020 was a landmark in the #MeToo movement.

In June, he lost a bid to have that sex crimes conviction overturned. He has also been separately charged by British prosecutors with the 1996 indecent assault of a woman in London.

In total, nearly 90 women, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Salma Hayek, have accused Weinstein of harassment or assault.

Weinstein says that all his sexual encounters were consensual, and his lawyer previously told reporters that the Los Angeles accusations "stem from many years ago" and cannot "be substantiated or corroborated by any forensic evidence" or "credible witnesses."

Before the allegations against him emerged, the producer and his brother Bob were Hollywood's ultimate power players.

They co-founded Miramax Films, a distribution company named after their mother Miriam and father Max, in 1979. It was sold to Disney in 1993.

Their hits included 1998's "Shakespeare in Love," for which Weinstein shared a best picture Oscar. Over the years, Weinstein's films received more than 300 Oscar nominations and 81 statuettes.

"She Said," a film about the 2017 newspaper investigation into Weinstein that sparked the demise of his movie empire, is set for wide release on November 18 in the United States.

S.Palmer--TFWP