Prosecution rests at Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial
LAS VEGAS — Harvey Weinstein made the first move as the first of 12 women to take the witness stand in a Manhattan courtroom that has been painted as a boxing ring for the powerful and rich.
During the trial for allegedly sexually assaulting multiple women, Weinstein, 73, smiled broadly as he testified to his former employer, who was fired in response to the allegations. The accuser says he made the decisions about her work as an English professor at New York University.
One of those women, Lucia Evans, testified that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s at an off-campus house where she worked for a photography professor at NYU. That allegation is also made in the lawsuit.
A second woman, Lucia, said Weinstein offered her $100,000 to settle a dispute with one of his employees over a sexually explicit text message. She turned down the money.
Evans and another woman, Asia Argento, testified that Weinstein, who has a long record of convictions in New York state that includes crimes including rape, molestation, kidnapping and arson, invited them to a Beverly Hills hotel during a film premiere in 1985 and invited them to a dinner party the next day. They said they did not want to meet him and ran out of the hotel. Weinstein offered them about $100,000 to settle the dispute.
The jury, deliberating for a week, will spend the rest of the morning hearing evidence about the sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein, who is free on $1 million bail. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
The hearing will come in the middle of a highly publicized rape case involving another woman who worked with Weinstein, model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez. She testified that Weinstein forced himself on her during a 2010 gathering of women at the Weinstein Co. offices in New York in what she described as a “sex cult.” Her statement describing the encounter led to a settlement of $100,000 between Weinstein and Gutierrez.
Argento described going to Weinstein’s
