What is Harvey Weinstein alleging?

Weinstein has been in jail since the beginning of this year, and has been hospitalized twice for various medical conditions. The legal claim, which seeks $5 million in damages, argues that he was returned to Rikers each time before he fully recovered.

A notice of claim is the first step in filing a lawsuit against the city. It accuses the prison facility of failing to manage the former Hollywood producer’s medical conditions, which include chronic myeloid leukemia and diabetes. The claim also alleges negligence at the facility, ranging from “cold” conditions to a lack of clean clothing.

The city’s Law Department and Corrections Department did not immediately respond to AP requests for comment.

“When I last visited him, I found him with blood splatters on his prison uniform, possibly from an IV, clothes that had not been washed for weeks, and he had not even been provided with clean underwear – serious medical Hardly sanitary conditions for someone with those conditions,” Weinstein’s lawyer, Imran H. Ansari, said in a statement, comparing the facility to a “Gulag.”

case against weinstein

Weinstein, 72, has been in city custody since earlier this year, after the New York Court of Appeals overturned his 2020 rape conviction in the state. Weinstein has denied any wrongdoing. The case will be heard again in 2025.

Weinstein was briefly hospitalized in April and again in July due to health problems. His team has said he has been treated for diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis, COVID-19 and fluid in his heart and lungs.

Weinstein’s film production company, once a centerpiece of Hollywood, went into bankruptcy proceedings after his conviction, and a $17 million fund was set up to fund sexual misconduct claims.

Rikers Island Jail is planned to close in 2027, but the city has pushed back the deadline to do so.

,with AP input,