Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood mogul whose sexual misconduct sparked the #MeToo movement, was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday for sexual assault.
The sentence by a judge in New York followed a guilty verdict in a retrial involving the assault of former “Project Runway” production assistant Miriam Haley. Weinstein, who is 74, denied the allegations.
The sentencing brings to end a saga that began in 2017, when The New York Times and The New Yorker reported on repeated sexual misconduct by Weinstein, then one of the most powerful and prolific producers in Hollywood. The revelations led to a reckoning for sexual misconduct by numerous other powerful men in entertainment, media and other fields.
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The sentencing hearing
During Wednesday’s sentencing in a Manhattan courtroom, Haley read aloud an impact statement that said Weinstein “abused his position and power,” causing a “devastating effect on my life and security.”
She said his crime amounted to “is a life sentence for me.”
When Weinstein addressed the judge, he again denied the allegations but apologized to “anyone I may have hurt by my actions.”
“I am not a perfect person, but I am a person who has made mistakes,” he said, adding “I am not a violent man.”
In delivering Weinstein’s sentence, Judge Curtis Farber said: “You took what you wanted by force, and you have never accepted responsibility.”
The Weinstein saga
Weinstein was arrested in 2018 after years of rumors about his abuse of women in Hollywood and in New York. As Straight Arrow previously reported, Weinstein’s production companies, Miramax and The Weinstein Company, silenced women by coercing them to settle and sign non-disclosure agreements.
Women went on the record to share their own experiences with Weinstein, and he was eventually charged and convicted of third-degree rape involving former aspiring actor Jessica Mann and first-degree criminal sexual act involving Haley.
He was sentenced to 23 years in prison but his conviction was overturned in 2024, and a judge ordered a new trial.
He was convicted again in 2025 for the criminal sexual act involving Haley, but retrials for the accusations involving Mann resulted in a hung jury.
Prosecutors have since declined to try Weinstein in the Mann case for a fourth time.
Weinstein is awaiting resentencing in a similar case in Los Angeles.
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