Nearly eight months after the New York Times and the New Yorker published chilling accounts of his crimes, Harvey Weinstein has finally been arrested. The disgraced mogul turned himself in to authorities Friday morning, where he was arrested and formally charged with first and third-degree rape, as well as a criminal sex act in the first degree.
Weinstein posted $1 million bail and was released after turning in his passport and agreeing to wear a GPS-enabled monitoring device. Weinstein is also barred from traveling anywhere outside of New York and Connecticut. The allegations were in connection to at least one known accuser, Lucia Evans, who accuses Weinstein of forcing her to perform oral sex on him in 2004. Evans said of her decision to press charges, “At a certain point, you have to think about the greater good of humanity, of womankind.” Evans has hired noted lawyer Carrie Goldberg, who specializes in sexual violence, revenge porn, and stalking cases. She also reps actress Paz de la Huerta, another Weinstein survivor.
During the arraignment, prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon described Weinstein as using his “position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually.” Weinstein’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman entered a plea of not guilty, saying later that “Harvey Weinstein did not invent the casting couch.” Since the allegations broke last year, more than 80 women have come forward to share their stories of abuse at the hands of one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. Long considered an “open secret” in the industry, the Weinstein saga continued to spiral as more and more women came forward to expose the decades-long cycle of abuse and manipulation.
Many of Weinstein’s survivors took to social media on a day they never thought would come:
What took you so long Harvey? pic.twitter.com/MUFB34fWai
— Asia Argento (@AsiaArgento) May 25, 2018
Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell. We, the women, finally have real hope for justice. https://t.co/or8qGaNO93
— Asia Argento (@AsiaArgento) May 25, 2018
We got you, Harvey Weinstein, we got you
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) May 25, 2018
It’s been a long time coming and today my fellow victims and I rejoice and pray no one ever underestimates the power of women when we stand together + scream the truth #WeSpoke #MeToo #TimesUp #LockHimUp https://t.co/eECuU2YEX1
— Lauren Sivan (@LaurenSivan) May 24, 2018
(via Variety, image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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