
Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein on Tuesday pleaded not guilty in a New York courtroom to rape and sexual assault charges related to crimes allegedly committed against two women.
The 66-year-old producer, whose career imploded in a blaze of accusations from dozens of women that sparked a nationwide reckoning about sexual misconduct, could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday (local time), the 66-year-old was indicted on charges of rape in the first and third degrees, and criminal sexual act in the first degree.
Scores of women have come to fore and accused Weinstein of a wide array of misconduct, which ranges from harassment to rape, over decades.
Weinstein remains out on $1 million cash bail ordered by a judge last Friday. Weinstein surrendered his USpassport and agreed to wear a monitoring device that tracks his location, confining him to the states of New York and Connecticut.
The accusations, first reported last year by the New York Times and the New Yorker, gave rise to the #MeToo movement, in which hundreds of women have publicly accused powerful men in business, government and entertainment of sexual misconduct.
Actresses who have publicly accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct include Uma Thurman, Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan and Salma Hayek.
Once a fixture of elite Manhattan and Los Angeles society, Weinstein has been ostracized since the accusations became public. He went to Arizona for sex addiction therapy.
The Weinstein Co's board fired him, the company filed for bankruptcy in March, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled him. In years past, the Academy had showered him with Oscars for a string of films that helped define independent cinema in the 1990s, including "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction."
London's Metropolitan Police and Los Angeles prosecutors have said they are reviewing accusations of sexual assault against him.
However, maintaining his innocence, Weinstein, whose career has been left in tatters, has always denied non-consensual sex.