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Weinstein Drama Continues as LA Courts Look at More Cases Against Disgraced Movie Mogul

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It’s a new year, but the old scandals continue to drag through the courts. Case in point: the ongoing drama surrounding Harvey Weinstein.

By: Richard Freitag

Prosecuting attorneys in Los Angeles said they are looking at eight separate cases in which the one-time movie producer stands accused of sexual assault.

Police officials in both Los Angeles and Beverly Hills have each sent findings to prosecutors, said Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

It will be up those prosecutors to decide whether or not to go forward with their planned court actions. According to Santiago, no charges have yet been filed. Details about the cases were not made public; neither were dates when they were presented to officials.

Juda Engelmayer, a publicist for Weinstein, said he had “nothing to add right now” in an email to The Associated Press.

“District Attorney Jackie Lacey created a task force more than two years ago to handle the surge in sexual misconduct allegations against entertainment figures after the accusations against Weinstein launched the #MeToo movement. He has denied allegations of nonconsensual sex,” according to startribune.com. “No charges have been filed against 22 men — including Weinstein, actor Kevin Spacey, director James Toback and former CBS CEO Leslie Moonves — who were the focus of the task force’s investigations. All of them have denied wrongdoing.”

The list of women, now numbering in the dozens, accusing Weinstein includes actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong’o and Ashley Judd, have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment. Others, such as Asia Argento and Rose McGowan have accused Weinstein of rape.

The disgraced producer is set to stand trial Jan. 6 in New York on charges he raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty and says any sexual activity was consensual.

“A tentative global settlement reached this month would split $25 million among more than two dozen of Weinstein’s accusers. The deal wouldn’t require him to pay anything out of his own pocket and he wouldn’t have to admit wrongdoing,” startribune.com added.

Sought or not, the case continues to provide actresses with publicity. The Hollywood Reporter just ran a feature on actress Katherine Kendall. It tells the story of how the last time she saw Harvey Weinstein “was at a party after the 2010 premiere of The King’s Speech that she attended with a friend. “I turned a corner and there he was,” says Kendall, best known for 1996’s Swingers. “I felt my knees buckle and I wanted to leave immediately.”

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