Harvey Weinstein files legal claim of lacking medical care from jail

Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers have filed a claim alleging that he is receiving substandard medical treatment in unhygienic conditions while under custody at Rikers Island jail in New York.

The disgraced media mogul’s lawyers’ claim – made ahead of a full lawsuit against New York City – alleges Weinstein’s chronic myeloid leukaemia and diabetes are not being managed by the facility and that he has faced negligent conditions.

“When I last visited him, I found him with blood spatter on his prison garb, possibly from IV’s, clothes that had not been washed for weeks, and he had not even been provided clean underwear – hardly sanitary conditions for someone with severe medical conditions,” Weinstein's attorney, Imran H Ansari, said in a statement, comparing the facility to a “gulag”.

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. The case is set to be retried in 2025. Weinstein has denied any wrongdoing.

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

Two months ago, Weinstein underwent an emergency medical procedure at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan to remove fluid from his heart and lungs after he complained of chest pains.

The legal claim, which seeks $5 million in damages, argues he’d been returned to Rikers each time before he had fully recovered.

The jailed movie mogul was said to be a "train wreck" health wise earlier this year and has used a wheelchair at recent court hearings.

Weinstein's film production company went into bankruptcy proceedings after his convictions, setting up a $17 million fund for a sexual misconduct claims fund.

In September, Weinstein pleaded not guilty to a new charge of forcing oral sex on a woman in a Manhattan hotel in spring 2006.

According to the indictment and another court document, the alleged assault – the specific charge is a “criminal sex act” – happened at a lower Manhattan hotel between 29 April and 6 May in 2006.

The unnamed woman’s lawyer, Lindsay Goldbrum, said: “She will be fully prepared to speak her truth at trial to hold Mr. Weinstein accountable before a jury of his peers.” She said the woman doesn't want to be identified for now, and the law firm declined to say anything more about her or her accusation.

“Thanks to this survivor who bravely came forward, Harvey Weinstein now stands indicted for an additional alleged violent sexual assault,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, said in a statement.