By Jack Queen
NEW YORK, April 21 (Reuters) – Harvey Weinstein used his status as a Hollywood titan to prey upon and sexually abuse vulnerable women, a prosecutor told jurors on Tuesday during opening statements in the disgraced movie mogul’s third New York rape trial.
Weinstein, 74, was a top Hollywood film producer until sexual misconduct allegations against him led to his downfall and fueled a wider social movement that encouraged women to come forward with accounts of sexual abuse by powerful men.
He has pleaded not guilty to one count of third-degree rape and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex.
Prosecutor Candace White told jurors on that Weinstein raped aspiring actress Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 while Mann resisted and repeatedly said “No.” White said it was not a word the Miramax studio co-founder was used to hearing.
“This case will come down to power, to control and to manipulation,” White said, accusing Weinstein of preying upon “fragile and sheltered” young women with dreams of Hollywood stardom.
Defense lawyers will give their opening statement Tuesday afternoon. They have said Weinstein’s accusers lied out of spite after their consensual sexual encounters with him failed to advance their careers.
Weinstein’s prior trial conviction for raping Mann was overturned on appeal, and a jury in a second trial was unable to reach a verdict on that charge.
The latest trial began with jury selection last week in Manhattan state court and is expected to last about a month.
At his first trial in New York in 2020, Weinstein was convicted of raping Mann in 2013 and assaulting onetime production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006, but the state’s highest court overturned the conviction and Weinstein’s 23-year prison sentence after concluding he didn’t get a fair trial.
A Manhattan jury then convicted Weinstein of sexually abusing Haley at a trial in June 2025, but found him not guilty of assaulting former model Kaja Sokola. The jury deadlocked on the third-degree rape charge accusing Weinstein of assaulting Mann, leading Farber to declare a mistrial on that count.
Weinstein was also convicted of rape in California in 2022, and is serving a 16-year prison sentence. He is appealing that conviction and sentence.
His lawyers say Weinstein’s health deteriorated rapidly while he awaited trial in New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail.
Weinstein will face up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced for abusing Haley.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Alistair Bell)
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