British prosecutors authorize charges against Harvey Weinstein alleging indecent assault

Harvey Weinstein leaves a Manhattan courthouse during a sexual assault trial in January 2020. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

British prosecutors authorized charges Wednesday against former film producer Harvey Weinstein for indecent assault allegations stemming from 1996.

The two charges were authorized following a review of evidence in a Metropolitan Police investigation, according to a news release from Rosemary Ainslie, head of the Crown Prosecution Service Special Crime Division.

The authorized charges mean that if Weinstein, 70, were extradited to England or Wales, police would be able to arrest and formally charge him. CPS declined to confirm whether they have requested or will request Weinstein’s extradition.

Weinstein publicist Juda Engelmayer called the CPS’s actions “strange and even unhelpful,” and said the agency didn’t notify Weinstein before releasing its statement.

Weinstein was extradited from New York to California in July 2021, where he remains in prison and is awaiting trial for sexual assault charges; he has pleaded not guilty. A New York court of appeals upheld his 2020 rape conviction and 23-year prison sentence in that state last week, upholding one of the most pivotal verdicts of the #MeToo movement.