Harvey Weinstein “is prey to three women”, while “he had unrestricted power for more than 30 years” in Hollywood, said a prosecutor on Wednesday during an opening statement in the trial of sexual crimes of the former film in New York.
“Harvey Weinstein had enormous control over those who worked on television and cinema. He decided who was inside and who was outside,” said the prosecutor, Shannon Lucey, to the jury of seven women and five men. “He held the Golden Ticket. The opportunity to do it or not.”
Lucey said “no” was “not a word that the defendant was used to the audience.”
“The defendant wanted his bodies and the more they resisted, the more forceful he got,” he said.
Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan’s criminal court before opening arguments in the sexual violation and aggression trial against him in New York, on April 23, 2025.
Sarah Yenel/Pool/AFP through Getty Images
Weinstein, 73, declared himself innocent and denies the accusations.
His defense lawyer, Arthur Aidala, responded during his opening statement that Weinstein did not force women and said they were using it for their connections.
“The casting couch was not a crime scene,” said Aidala.
“I had all the power,” says the prosecutor
The Court of Appeals revoked Weinstein’s initial conviction last year, finding the judge of first instance “erroneously admitted the testimony of previous not loaded and prior sexual acts against people other than the plaintiffs of the underlying crimes.”
He is being withdrawn by sexually assaulting two women, Mimi Haley and Jessica Mann. He is also accused of sexually assaulting a third woman, Kaja Sokola, who was not part of the first trial. The three women present themselves publicly and are being identified by their name at the trial.
Before the Opening Declaration, a Court officer took Weinstein to the Court. It appeared with a navy suit, white shirt, tie and thick black glasses. Two court officers sat behind him in each of his shoulders.
Two women who testified against Weinstein in their first judgment were among the spectators in the courtroom.
Lucey, a district prosecutor in Manhattan, detailed the alleged sexual assaults committed against the three women.
Lucey said Haley was not interested in Weinstein, but, under the appearance of discussing a production role in “Project Runway”, he went to his Crosby Street apartment in July 2006, where he allegedly “retained” it and submitted it to forced sexual behavior.
The prosecutor pointed out the difference in size between the two: “Mimi of 115 pounds, accused of 300 pounds.”
Sokola was 16 when he met Weinstein in 2002 at a restaurant in West Village shortly after signing a modeling contract to come to New York from Poland. Weinstein asked him if he was interested in being in films and “his illuminated eyes,” Lucey said.
Several years later, in 2006, Weinstein broadcast Sokola as an extra in “The Nanny Diaries.” After a lunch at a Manhattan hotel that year, Weinstein supposedly “pressed on her shoulders with enough force to take her to bed” and forced oral sex to the 19 -year -old as she said: “Please do not do this,” says Lucey.
Lucey also states that when Sokola was 16 years old, Weinstein supposedly forced her to play her genitals in an apartment in Manhattan. Weinstein is not accused in that supposed 2002 incident in the accusation, since it is outside the statute of limitations. But the judge has allowed Sokola to testify in this regard during the trial, along with a second alleged incident that involved Weinstein who, according to her, occurred in 2004. Sokola previously filed a lawsuit in New York by virtue of the law of victims of children on the alleged incident of 2002, which prosecutors said it has been resolved since then.
In 2013, Weinstein supposedly submitted Mann to sex without his consent in a hotel.
“The defendant committed these acts while he was at the top of the entertainment industry. He had all the power. They had none. That imbalance of power assured his silence,” Lucey said.
Lucey states that Mann had also involved in sexual encounters with Weinstein who were not forced for fear of his power in the industry.
Harvey Weinstein appears in his new trial in Manhattan Criminal Court, on April 23, 2025, in New York.
Steven Hirsch/Pool/Getty Images
The defense maintains that the acts were agreed
Weinstein’s lawyer began his defense when comparing the prosecutor’s opening declaration with an upcoming attraction in the theater.
“How many times has the view seen great and the movie has fallen on its face?” Aidala asked. “This case is going to fall into the face.”
He implored jury members: “We want you to see the whole movie.”
Aidala agreed with the prosecutors that Weinstein was a powerful man in the television and film industries, but told the jury that Weinstein did not force women who has accused of assaulting. Instead, Aidala said Weinstein dedicated himself to “mutually beneficial relations” that the lawyer said he has been happening in Hollywood for a hundred years.
“They are playing with him consensually,” said Aidala. “The casting couch was not a crime scene.”
The defense asked the jury to draw a distinction between immorality and illegality and see the alleged meetings as something involving “friends with benefits.”
Aidala said the three alleged victims maintained long, friendly and positive relationships with Weinstein after the alleged assaults.
“I love you, I miss you, XO,” said Aidala, citing messages that said the women sent Weinstein.
“He was the man who could make things happen,” said Aidala. “They wanted to use Harvey.”
The defense suggested that women embellished their accusations as part of a money taking.
“There will be 4 million reasons to lie. That is how much they took,” said Aidala after pointing out the presence of Gloria Allred, the lawyer of one of the plaintiffs, in the back row.
