WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Harvey Weinstein received 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting Miriam Haley at his Manhattan apartment in 2006.
- New York’s highest court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction, but another jury convicted him during a retrial last year.
- Weinstein maintains his innocence and is expected to appeal, while Haley said he still has not acknowledged his actions.
- His defense sought leniency because of blood cancer, congestive heart failure and kidney issues.
Harvey Weinstein was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting former television production assistant Miriam Haley at his Manhattan apartment in 2006.
The sentence delivered another #MeToo reckoning for the disgraced movie mogul.
The punishment followed a legal battle stretching more than six years. Weinstein’s 2020 conviction was overturned by New York’s highest court, but a second jury found him guilty again during a retrial last year.
Weinstein, 74, once ranked among the entertainment industry’s most powerful figures.
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The Oscar-winning producer was associated with films including “Shakespeare in Love,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Chocolat,” before sexual assault allegations in 2017 triggered his rapid downfall and the #MeToo movement.
He maintains that he never raped or sexually assaulted anyone and is expected to appeal.
Weinstein, who appeared in court seated in a wheelchair, was quickly removed from the courtroom after sentencing as some of his accusers embraced and wiped away tears.
Weinstein faced as many as 25 years in prison for assaulting Haley and has already served more than six years while his case moved through the criminal justice system.
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Haley described the assault during two trials and addressed the court again Wednesday.
“Having been sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein has had a devastating effect on my life and sense of security that may never go away.
Making the decision to speak up will have me looking over my shoulder for years to come,” Haley said.
Minutes later, Weinstein apologized for his past conduct while repeating his claim of innocence.
Some accusers seated in the courtroom shook their heads as he spoke.
“Reflecting on all that has happened since 2017 has helped me recognize how my past conduct has negatively affected others. I live with many regrets and sincerely apologize to anyone I have affected with my actions,” Weinstein said.
WATCH:
Judge Curtis Farber told Weinstein that he had once been a king within the movie business, “but recognition for these achievements will pale in comparison to what you did.”
Farber said Weinstein is now known as “a sexual predator, the literal face of the #MeToo movement.”
The judge said Weinstein treated women as “mere objects to be played with and discarded.”
He also said Weinstein had not accepted responsibility and had portrayed himself as a victim during interviews from jail.
Haley said afterward that she was pleased with the sentence but believed Weinstein still had not acknowledged his actions.
“I think he still feels entitled, and that’s part of the problem,” she said.
Her attorney, victims’ rights lawyer Gloria Allred, rejected the idea that Weinstein’s sentencing marked the end of the #MeToo era.
“Women are empowered in a way they have never been before,” Allred said.
Weinstein originally received a 23-year prison sentence after a jury convicted him of assaulting Haley and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
At his second trial last year, jurors again convicted him of a first-degree criminal sex act involving Haley, who has also used the name Mimi Haleyi.
The jury acquitted Weinstein of forcibly performing oral sex on Kaja Sokola but could not reach a verdict on the rape charge involving Mann.
After another retrial ended with a hung jury in May, Manhattan prosecutors dropped that charge rather than seek a fourth trial after Mann said she could not endure testifying again.
Weinstein’s health problems led his defense team to request leniency.
Defense lawyer Jacob Kaplan sought three additional years beyond the six already served, arguing that a longer punishment would increase the likelihood that Weinstein would die in prison.
Kaplan said Weinstein had been hospitalized six times since 2025 while facing blood cancer, congestive heart failure and kidney issues.
Weinstein has been housed in a medical unit for inmates at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan after time in state prison and the Rikers Island complex.
Weinstein also awaits resentencing in a separate Los Angeles rape case.
A California appeals court upheld his 2022 conviction but overturned the original 16-year sentence because the judge had considered his New York convictions, which were later overturned, as an aggravating factor.
Haley, 49, is a former entertainment producer who now works in advertising.
She said she met Weinstein through a mutual connection and briefly worked as a production assistant on “Project Runway,” a reality competition show that he produced.
Haley testified that Weinstein lunged to kiss her after she accepted an invitation to his apartment.
She said he grabbed her after she resisted, forced her into a bedroom and sexually assaulted her while ignoring her demands that he stop.
Haley recalled Weinstein later asking, “Don’t you think we’re much closer now?”
She also recalled telling him after a second encounter, “You know you can’t keep doing this.”
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