Harvey Weinstein taken to New York hospital for emergency heart surgery, his representatives say

NEW YORK (AP) — Imprisoned former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein underwent emergency heart surgery Monday at a New York City hospital, his representatives said.

Weinstein, 72, was taken from the prison complex on Rikers Island to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan late Sunday “due to serious medical conditions,” his publicist Juda Engelmayer and prison counselor Craig Rothfeld said.

“We can confirm that Mr. Weinstein underwent a procedure and surgery on his heart today,” they said, without further comment on his condition.

News of Weinstein’s hospitalization was first reported by ABC News.

Weinstein has been in a hospital outside Bellevue Hospital since returning to Rikers Island from state prison in April after an appeals court overturned his 2020 rape and sexual assault convictions and ordered a new trial.

In July, he was hospitalized for treatment for a variety of health conditions, including COVID-19 and pneumonia in both lungs, his representatives said.

The state Court of Appeals ruled that the judge in the 2020 trial unfairly allowed testimony from women whose claims against Weinstein were not part of the case.

Last week, prosecutors announced they were taking steps to potentially charge him with three additional sexual assaults.

They said they have begun presenting evidence to a grand jury of up to three previously unindicted allegations against Weinstein: two sexual assaults in the mid-2000s and another sexual assault in 2016.

A vote on a possible new indictment is expected soon.

At the same time, British prosecutors said last week that they had dropped two indecent assault charges against Weinstein in 2022 because there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.”

Weinstein has denied raping or sexually assaulting anyone. He remains in custody in New York for the time being awaiting retrial in Manhattan that is tentatively scheduled for November 12. He is due back in court on September 12 for a hearing.

Weinstein became the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movementthat took root in 2017 when women began going public with their stories about his behavior.

During the original trial, Weinstein was convicted in 2006 of forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant and of third-degree rape for an attack on an aspiring actor in 2013. These charges will be part of his retrial. Weinstein’s acquittals on charges of predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape still stand.

After the retrial, Weinstein must begin serving a 16 years in prison in California for a separate rape conviction in Los Angeles, authorities said. Weinstein was sentenced in Los Angeles in 2022.

Weinstein, the co-founder of the film studios Miramax and The Weinstein Company, was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, producing Oscar winners such as “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love.”