Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been rushed to the hospital for emergency heart surgery.
The 72-year-old was taken to Bellevue Hospital from Rikers Island in New York City on Sunday night after reporting chest pains, ABC News reported.
‘Mr. Weinstein was rushed to Bellevue Hospital last night due to several medical conditions. ‘We can confirm that Mr. Weinstein had a procedure and surgery on his heart today,’ Weinstein’s representatives Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer said.
They added: ‘As we have extensively stated before, Mr. Weinstein suffers a plethora of significant health issues that need ongoing treatment. We are grateful to the executive team at the New York City Department of Correction and Rikers Island for acting swiftly in taking him to Bellevue Hospital. ‘
Weinstein, who has denied having any non-consensual sexual encounters with anyone, was found guilty on rape charges in February 2020.
Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been rushed to the hospital for emergency heart surgery. He is seen in August, 2024
The 72-year-old was taken to Bellevue Hospital from Rikers Island in New York City on Sunday
The New York Court of Appeals threw out the conviction in April, finding Weinstein did not get a fair trial because a judge improperly allowed testimony by accusers he was not formally charged with assaulting.
Weinstein suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis, fluid on his heart and lungs, and had recently contracted COVID and double pneumonia.
It comes as Weinstein is expected in court later this week as prosecutors are taking steps to potentially charge him with up to three additional sex assaults.
Weinstein was seen in a wheel chair in recent court appearances.
He asked to stay in custody at Rikers, saying he has been undergoing medical care there.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office in New York has begun presenting evidence to a grand jury of up to three previously uncharged allegations against Weinstein -– two sexual assaults in the mid-2000s and another sexual assault in 2016.
Prosecutors shared some information about the additional allegations that the grand jury is weighing at a court conference on Tuesday.
Weinstein remains in prison as he was found guilty of the rape and sexual assault of Italian actress and model Evgeniya Chernyshova in Los Angeles and was sentenced to 16 years
They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.
Weinstein remains in custody in New York while awaiting a retrial in Manhattan that’s tentatively scheduled to begin November 12.
He became the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movement, which took root in 2017 when women began to go public with accounts of his behavior. After the revelations emerged, British police said they were investigating multiple allegations of sexual assault that reportedly took place between the 1980s and 2015.
Weinstein was the producer of hit movies including Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, Good Will Hunting, Gangs Of New York and Shakespeare In Love
At the original trial, Weinstein was convicted of forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actor in 2013. Those allegations will be part of his retrial. Weinstein’s acquittals on charges of predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape still stand.
After the retrial, Weinstein is due to start serving a 16-year sentence in California for a separate rape conviction in Los Angeles, authorities said. Weinstein was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022.
