Weinstein due back in Manhattan court on June 5

Former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein posted bail at US$1 million (S$1.34 million) cash, surrendered his passport and has been fitted with a GPS monitoring device. PHOTO: REUTERS

NEW YORK (AFP) - Disgraced Hollywood powerbroker Harvey Weinstein is due back in court on June 5 to be formally arraigned after being indicted by a grand jury on rape and sex crime charges.

The 66-year-old was initially charged last week in what was hailed a landmark for the #MeToo movement, nearly eight months after his career imploded in a blaze of accusations of misconduct.

He is now expected to plead not guilty during an arraignment scheduled at a New York criminal court next Tuesday (June 5) at 10 am (1400 GMT).

"Our office will try this case not in the press, but in the courtroom where it belongs," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said Wednesday. Vance was criticized for failing to prosecute Weinstein in a separate case in 2015.

Weinstein intends to plead not guilty and "strongly denies" the rape and sex crime allegations against him, his lawyer has said.

"We will soon formally move to dismiss the indictment and if this case actually proceeds to trial, we expect Mr Weinstein to be acquitted," Ben Brafman said Wednesday.

The twice-married father of five is indicted with rape in the first and third degrees, stemming from an attack on a woman in 2013, and a criminal sex act against another woman in 2004. Neither victim has been named.

His lawyer says the rape allegation involves a woman with whom Weinstein "shared a 10-year consensual sexual relationship that continued for years" after the alleged incident.

The former movie mogul posted bail at US$1 million (S$1.34 million) cash, surrendered his passport and has been fitted with a GPS monitoring device.

His career went down in flames in October over sexual assault allegations following explosive articles in The New York Times and New Yorker, which sparked a sexual harassment reckoning across the United States, in multiple industries.

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