Harvey Weinstein May Have Violated Bail Conditions

At issue is Weinstein’s ankle monitor

Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein leaves New York City Criminal Court after a bail hearing on December 6, 2019 in New York City.
Scott Heins/Getty Images

Harvey Weinstein is currently awaiting trial in New York after being charged with rape and sexual assault. Conditions of his bail require him to wear an ankle monitor — which has become the center of a new controversy surrounding the onetime film producer, whose name has now become synonymous with abuses of power in multiple walks of life. 

The Guardian has details of a hearing that took place on Friday, wherein a prosecutor raised the question of discrepancies with respect to the ankle monitor, and asked for Weinstein’s bail to be significantly increased as a result. 

Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi spoke at a pre-trial hearing for Weinstein and asked the judge to increase his bail from $1m to $5m. Prosecutors accuse him of leaving at home a piece of the monitoring technology that keeps the ankle bracelet activated.

Weinstein’s defense attorney argued that the monitor issues were due to mechanical issues and dead batteries. The judge has not yet ruled on the request for increased bail; that will take place next week.

The Guardian’s report also notes that the requested increase in Weinstein’s bail comes at a time when New York has moved to end cash bail for most nonviolent offenses. The article notes that this would not apply to Weinstein: “People charged with rape and other serious sexual offenses can still be ordered to post bail or be put into pre-trial detention despite the 2020 law changes.”

Weinstein’s trial is scheduled to begin in early January in New York City, after his defense failed at an attempt to get the location changed

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