Jailed movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s health problems continue as he has reportedly been diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia.
The convicted rapist, 72, spent most of the summer in hospital with various illnesses, from Covid and double pneumonia to having fluid removed from his heart and lungs.
Weinstein is currently being treated at his prison on Rikers Island for chronic myelogenous leukemia, a rare bone marrow cancer, NBC News reported.
A representative for Weinstein declined comment in a statement.
Weinstein is currently serving a sentence for rape at Rikers Island jail and was rushed to Bellevue late Sunday due to “serious medical conditions.”
Jailed movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s health problems continue as he has reportedly been diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia
The convicted rapist, 72, spent most of the summer in hospital with various illnesses, from Covid and double pneumonia to having fluid removed from his heart and lungs.
His lawyer Arthur Aidala says he has warned prison officials: “This man will die while you wait if you don’t do anything.”
Weinstein has denied raping or sexually assaulting anyone.
He remains in custody in New York pending a retrial in Manhattan, tentatively scheduled to begin on November 12. He is due back in court on Thursday for a hearing.
Weinstein has been in and out of 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.
He underwent pericardiocentesis surgery at Bellevue Hospital in New York City in September after you have had chest pain.
In July, he was hospitalized with COVID-19 and pneumonia in both lungs, his representatives said.
He had also spent 10 days in Bellevue in April, with Aidala saying the time Weinstein had “a lot of problems” and was “a bit of a train wreck health-wise.”
After his conviction in February 2020, Weinstein left court in an ambulance and made a detour to Bellevue, where he complained of chest pain and high blood pressure. Later, a stent was inserted to unblock an artery.
Weinstein is currently serving a sentence for rape at Rikers Island jail and was rushed to Bellevue late Sunday due to ‘serious medical conditions’
Weinstein has denied raping or sexually assaulting anyone
After his conviction a few weeks later, he returned to the hospital with more chest pains. He later tested positive for COVID-19 just days after being transferred to a state prison near Buffalo.
In 2021, when Weinstein was extradited to California to face rape charges there, his lawyers disclosed a litany of conditions, including: diabetes, coronary artery disease, anemia, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic lower back pain, sciatica, chronic leg pain. pain, arthritis and eye conditions that had seriously affected his vision. He has used a wheelchair during recent court hearings.
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.
In September, 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 was 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 became the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movement, which took root in 2017 when women began going public with stories about his behavior.
Weinstein was convicted of a series of sex offenses in New York and Los Angeles and had served a 23-year prison sentence on the East Coast. Pictured: Weinstein with (LR) Taylor Swift, Este Haim, actress Jaime King and Lorde in 2015
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 will begin serving a 16-year prison sentence in California for a separate rape conviction in Los Angeles, authorities said. Weinstein was convicted 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.
