Los Angeles DA announces rape, sexual assault charges against Harvey Weinstein

Disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein was charged with new counts of rape and sexual assault, Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced Monday — the same day jury selection for Weinstein's trial for similar charges began in New York.

If convicted, Weinstein faces prison time in New York, and now could also be sent to jail in California for up to 28 years.

In the new set of charges, Weinstein has been accused of of raping one unidentified woman after forcing his way into her hotel room and sexually assaulting another woman in her hotel room the following evening over a two-day stretch in Los Angeles in 2013, ABC News reports. "We believe the evidence will show that the defendant used his power and influence to gain access to his victims and then commit violent crimes against them," Lacey said.

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Weinstein's current trial in New York is expected to last more than two months. The allegations against Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.