Harvey Weinstein found guilty in sex crimes case

on June 13, 2025

Miriam "Mimi" Haley, then a young TV producer, described her 2006 assault in Weinstein's SoHo apartment. That was the charge for which Weinstein was found guilty.

Kaja Sokola, then a 19-year-old model, said Weinstein lured her to a hotel room on the promise of showing her a film script, and instead forced her into sex, also in 2006. The jury found Weinstein not guilty of that charge.

Jessica Mann, a former aspiring actress, described being raped by Weinstein in a hotel room in 2013. The jury will reconvene Thursday to decide that charge, according to the New York Daily News.

Judge Curtis Farber decided to announce the split verdict and send the jury back to deliberate after the jury foreperson told the court he had become concerned for his safety, after another juror yelled at him.

"I feel afraid inside there, I can't be inside there," he said, in a closed conference with the judge and the two legal teams, for which a transcript was released.

Another juror asked to be let go, describing a tense atmosphere. "In good conscience, I don't think this is fair and just," he said.

Weinstein's legal team pled to the judge to elicit more information from the jury. Instead, he sent them out on lunch break, with the split verdict coming in the afternoon. Weinstein did not testify during the trial.

Haley and Mann testified at Weinstein's first trial in Manhattan, while Sokola was a new witness.

While prosecutors built their case around the dramatic testimony of the three women, the defense team tried to raise doubts about their motivations and truthfulness. Lead defense lawyer Arthur Aidala described the women as "conniving" and "sophisticated" and said they falsely accused Weinstein as a means to attain fame and money. All three women have received substantial civil settlements.

Jurors began their deliberations around 11:30 a.m. Thursday, and informed the court they had reached a verdict the following Wednesday afternoon.

A single count of criminal sex act in the first degree could carry a maximum sentence of 25 years.

Weinstein was separately convicted of sex crimes in California in 2022, and he has appealed the verdict.

Weinstein, 73, appeared pale but alert during the trial and used a wheelchair. A court officer removed his handcuffs each day before the jury entered the courtroom. After the jurors left the room to deliberate on Thursday, Weinstein addressed the judge, expressing his thanks to the court officers. "Seriously, I have been treated incredibly fairly," he said.

Weinstein has given recent interviews to far-right podcaster Candace Owens and to the Daily Mail's website, telling the latter publication that the #MeToo movement is waning. "I think there's a real movement now to telling the truth and proving that these girls were in it for the money," Weinstein told Mail Online.