Former film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison following his recent rape and sexual assault conviction.
The 67-year-old Hollywood mogul was accused of raping one woman in a Midtown Manhattan hotel in March 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on another woman at his apartment in Manhattan in 2006.
He was convicted on two of five charges by a jury of seven men and five women on Feb. 24. The jury acquitted him on three other charges, including two counts of predatory sexual assault charges which could put him in jail for life.
Weinstein had denied all the allegations, saying any sexual activity was consensual.
Before he was sentenced on Wednesday, Weinstein, sitting in a wheelchair in Manhattan criminal court, said he was "confused" about the case and "thousands of men" involved in the #MeToo movement are accused of "things that none of us understood," according to local media reports.
Both women in the two cases were present in court for the proceedings. One of them, a film production assistant, broke into tears while saying the attack scarred her "deeply, mentally and emotionally."
"I believe that if Harvey Weinstein was not convicted by this jury, it would happen again and again and again," she said.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr thanked the survivors "for their remarkable statements today and indescribable courage over the last two years," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
He also thanked the court "for imposing a sentence that puts sexual predators and abusive partners in all segments of society on notice."
Weinstein has been involved in dozens of allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct since investigative reports about his alleged sexual abuse were published on several mainstream media outlets in 2017.
He is probably going to face additional charges as three more sexual assault cases are currently under investigation by police in Los Angeles.
