Harvey Weinstein rushed from Rikers Island to hospital for emergency heart surgery: Reports
Two months following his hospitalization for various health issues, Harvey Weinstein has been hospitalized for emergency cardiac treatment.
The 72-year-old movie mogul, who is currently awaiting a retrial on sexual assault charges, was transported to Bellevue Hospital on Sunday for emergency heart surgery after experiencing chest pains, Weinstein’s representatives confirmed to ABC News in a statement.
“Mr. Weinstein was rushed to Bellevue Hospital last night due to several medical conditions,” Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer told ABC. “We can confirm that Mr. Weinstein had a procedure and surgery on his heart today, however, cannot comment any further than that.”
Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, also confirmed the surgery to BBC News. YSL News has reached out to representatives for Weinstein for comment.
The surgery comes after Weinstein was hospitalized for a “myriad of health conditions” in July, including testing positive for COVID-19 and contracting double pneumonia.
He was taken to the Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward in New York City, where he was treated for the “conditions that he is still afflicted with on a daily basis such as diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis (and) fluid on his heart and lungs.”
“As we have extensively stated before, Mr. Weinstein suffers a plethora of significant health issues that need ongoing treatment,” Rothfeld and Engelmayer concluded Monday. “We are grateful to the executive team at the New York City Department of Correction and Rikers Island for acting swiftly in taking him to Bellevue Hospital.”
Amid his ongoing legal troubles, Weinstein was expected to make a court appearance this week, per ABC News, as prosecutors have been presenting evidence for a possible new indictment on sex crime charges.
Harvey Weinstein faces retrial after rape conviction overturned
In February 2020, Manhattan jurors found Weinstein guilty on rape charges, but New York Court of Appeals judges threw out the conviction in April.
This spring, they found that the embattled Hollywood heavyweight did not receive a fair trial because a judge improperly allowed testimony by accusers that Weinstein had not been formally charged with assaulting.
Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison after a jury found that the Miramax film studio co-founder sexually assaulted former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and raped aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. He was also sentenced to 16 years following a separate rape trial in California, although he has not begun serving the sentence.
Manhattan prosecutors revealed in July that they intend to charge Weinstein for “additional violent sexual assaults” after more women agreed to testify. The new accusers have not been publicly identified, and prosecutors are seeking to shield certain evidence from public view while they prepare to seek a new grand jury indictment.
During a July 19 hearing, Judge Curtis Farber set a tentative court date of Nov. 19 for Weinstein’s retrial, signaling he was also open to an earlier trial date in September depending on how pretrial discovery plays out.
The disgraced media mogul has denied wrongdoing or having any non-consensual sexual encounters with anyone. He is being held in New York City’s Rikers Island jail ahead of his retrial.