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Harvey Weinstein is pleading not guilty, CNN reports.
The former producer has been publicly accused of sexual misconduct — up to and including rape — by dozens of women since the first stories of his behavior broke last fall, setting off the waves of reports that would become the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. Now he’s been indicted on charges of two counts of rape and one first-degree criminal sex act charge in New York state after surrendering to authorities on May 30.
Weinstein’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman says that Weinstein denies all accusations of “nonconsensual sexual activity” and fully expects to be exonerated. On Tuesday, he entered a not guilty plea to the New York Supreme Court.
One of the women pressing charges against Weinstein remains unknown, but marketing consultant Lucia Evans confirmed to the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow that she was the other victim. “At a certain point, you have to think about the greater good of humanity, of womankind,” she said. Police sources described Evans as “a highly credible witness with corroborating evidence.”
Weinstein entered his plea just seven months after the first reports on his behavior were published in the New York Times and the New Yorker. If his case makes it to trial, it will arguably be the first major legal battle of the Time’s Up movement. (Bill Cosby was found guilty of sexual assault earlier this year, but the Cosby case began well before Time’s Up took off.)
Weinstein is currently out on bail, set at $1 million. He is allowed to travel between New York and Connecticut.
