Graphic details in Harvey Weinstein sexual assault complaint
NEW YORK - Disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein has been arraigned on three felony sex crimes charges, including rape in the first degree, in a Manhattan court Friday morning. The charges stem from complaints by two women and cover alleged assaults that occurred in 2004 and 2013.
According to the criminal complaint released by the Manhattan District Attorney's office, Weinstein, 66, "grabbed the back of informant's head forcing her head downward and forced her mouth onto his penis" in 2004 inside an address in Manhattan where Weinstein kept an office. And in 2013, the complaint alleges that Weinstein kept another woman "against her will in a room" where he "engaged in sexual intercourse" with her even though the woman had "clearly expressed her lack of consent to the act."
In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance called the women who pressed charges "brave" and referred to the investigation into Weinstein's behavior "ongoing."
Weinstein turned himself in Friday morning. At his arraignment on Friday, Weinstein's attorney, Benjamin Brafman, entered a plea of not guilty for his client. Weinstein agreed to post $1 million cash bail, wear an electronic monitor and not travel beyond New York and Connecticut.
"Mr. Weinstein has always maintained that he has never engaged in non-consensual behavior with anyone. Nothing about today's proceedings changes Mr Weinstein's position," Brafman said in a statement released to CBS News. "He has entered a plea of not guilty and fully expects to be exonerated."
Lucia Evans told The New Yorker in a story published in October that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex during a daytime meeting at his New York office in 2004, the summer before her senior year at Middlebury College.
"I said, over and over, 'I don't want to do this, stop, don't,'" she told the magazine. "I tried to get away, but maybe I didn't try hard enough. I didn't want to kick him or fight him."
More than 75 women have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing around the globe. Several actresses and models accused him of criminal sexual assaults, but many of the encounters happened too long ago for any prosecution. Film actress Rose McGowan said Weinstein raped her in 1997 in Utah, "Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra said he raped her in her New York apartment in 1992 and Norwegian actress Natassia Malthe said he attacked her in a London hotel room in 2008.