Weinstein faces fresh charges; Cosby denies assault claims

LONDON • British prosecutors said on Wednesday they had authorised charges to be brought against former Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein, 70, on two counts of indecent assault against a woman 26 years ago.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the alleged assault took place in August 1996 in London.

London's Metropolitan Police said the accusation involved a woman now in her 50s.

A spokesman for Weinstein told Reuters by e-mail: "It is strange and even unhelpful for them to release this information without having interviewed him, given him any previous disclosure regarding the allegations and not producing an actual charge sheet, nor any plan of how they intend to proceed with the matter.

"At this point, we have the same information as the media."

Weinstein is serving a 23-year prison sentence in the United States after being convicted in 2020 of assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and raping former aspiring actress Jessica Mann.

That conviction was upheld by a New York appeals court last week.

The verdict was considered a landmark in the #MeToo movement where women came forward to accuse dozens of powerful men of sexual misconduct.

Many view the accusations against Weinstein, which surfaced in 2017, as the key spark for that movement.

REUTERS

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BILL COSBY

SANTA MONICA • Comedian Bill Cosby denied a California woman's claim that he had sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in the mid-1970s, in a recorded deposition shown to a jury considering one of the last legal cases against him.

Ms Judy Huth, 64, who is seeking unspecified damages in a civil lawsuit she filed in 2014, has testified that Cosby, now 84, forced her to perform a sex act at the mansion when she was a teenager.

On Wednesday, jurors were shown a roughly 10-minute video of Cosby answering questions from one of Ms Huth's attorneys during a deposition in 2015.

Cosby answered "no" to questions about whether he had tried to put his hands down Ms Huth's pants, and then took her hand and used it to perform a sex act, as she alleged.

He acknowledged that he would take guests to the mansion, but does not remember Ms Huth or the friend who said she accompanied her that night.

Asked if Ms Huth's account could have been accurate but that Cosby had forgotten the incident, he said that was not possible because "this young lady is saying that she told me she was 15" and that he had never pursued sexual contact with anyone he knew was under 18.

Cosby is not expected to attend the trial in person. It takes place 11 months after he was freed from prison when Pennsylvania's highest court threw out his sexual assault conviction in a different case.

REUTERS

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R. KELLY

NEW YORK • United States prosecutors on Wednesday said singer R. Kelly deserves to spend more than 25 years in prison after being convicted of sex trafficking.

In a filing in Brooklyn federal court, prosecutors said the multi-platinum R&B singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, had exploited his stardom and wealth over a quarter of a century to lure women and underage girls for sex, demonstrating a "callous disregard" for his victims and showing no remorse.

"The defendant's decades of crime appear to have been fuelled by narcissism and a belief that his musical talent absolved him of any need to conform his conduct - no matter how predatory, harmful, humiliating or abusive to others - to the strictures of the law," they said.

Kelly, 55, who has been jailed since 2019, remains a "serious danger" to the public, justifying keeping him behind bars until well into his 70s, prosecutors added.

Ms Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer for Kelly, has said he should spend fewer than 14 years in prison and will in a filing next Monday explain why his "history and characteristics" justify a shorter sentence.

Kelly's trial has amplified accusations that had dogged him since the early 2000s and included testimony from 45 government witnesses, including several of his abuse victims.

REUTERS