Weinstein hospitalized for emergency heart surgery

Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood mogul who has been held at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City since April, was rushed Sunday evening to Bellevue Hospital for emergency heart surgery, according to his lawyer.

Weinstein, 72, contacted Craig Rothfeld, his jail consultant, several times over the weekend to tell him that he was not feeling well, according to Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s lawyer.

“This guy is going to die on your watch if you don’t do something,” Aidala said he and Rothfeld wrote in emails to officials at Rikers and Bellevue before Weinstein was taken to the hospital Sunday evening.

Weinstein underwent surgery Monday morning and is in recovery in the intensive care unit, Rothfeld said Monday afternoon. “Mr. Weinstein suffers a plethora of significant health issues that need ongoing treatment,” he said.

He had been complaining of a cough and weight gain, Rothfeld said. The surgery helped to “alleviate the massive amount of fluid on his lungs and heart.”

Rothfeld added that Weinstein had called him after the surgery. “He’s grateful to be alive,” he said.

The hospitalization, which was first reported by ABC News, comes months after a court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on sex-crimes charges in New York and after a Manhattan judge set Nov. 12 as a tentative date for the start of jury selection in a new sexual assault case. Weinstein has denied all the allegations.

Weinstein, who had been helped into court in a wheelchair in July, is scheduled to return to court later this month. He was previously hospitalized at Bellevue in July for a number of health issues, including COVID-19 and pneumonia in both lungs. He was also treated for diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis and fluid on his heart and lungs.

Weinstein was indicted in Manhattan in 2018 on charges of rape and criminal sexual act. Dozens of women came forward with accusations against him, and six women testified at trial that he had sexually assaulted them; he faced charges in connection with just two women. He was found guilty of raping an aspiring actress, Jessica Mann, and assaulting a television production assistant, Miriam Haley, and was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

But in a 4-3 decision in April, New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, overturned the conviction, arguing that because witnesses whose allegations were not connected to the charges had been allowed to testify, he had not received a fair trial.

The New York case was considered a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement, and many saw the conviction as proof that even influential men could be held accountable for sexual misconduct. The appeals court’s ruling was met with shock and outrage, even from dissenting judges on the panel.

“Fundamental misunderstandings of sexual violence perpetrated by men known to, and with significant power over, the women they victimize are on full display in the majority’s opinion,” Judge Madeline Singas wrote.

Weinstein has also been sentenced to 16 years in prison in a separate sex-crimes case in Los Angeles.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.