Daccanomics
On Thursday, former Hollywood film mogul and the once-celebrated film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison for rape and sexual assault convictions dating back to 2013.
Weinstein was a prominent figure in the entertainment industry for decades and produced many critically acclaimed films. However, his fall from grace was swift after allegations of sexual misconduct came to light in 2017, sparking the global #MeToo movement.
The sentence was handed down by a Los Angeles court. The 70-year-old producer is already serving a 23-year term in New York for a different crime.
More than 80 individuals have accused Weinstein of rape and misbehavior dating back to the late 1970s.
He has always denied having non-consensual sex.
With this sentence, Harvey Weinstein, the former Hollywood film mogul and Academy Award-winning movie producer, faces a high probability of serving the remainder of his life behind bars.
In December, he was convicted of forceful rape, forcible oral copulation, and sexual penetration by a foreign object of a European actress, Jane Doe 1 whose name was not revealed by a Los Angeles jury to protect her anonymity.
The court heard explicit details of encounters between the formerly powerful movie producer and many young women trying to get into Hollywood.
Prosecutors claim Weinstein manipulated and mistreated women for years and was able to do so with impunity because of his influential position in the business at the time.
Prosecutors claimed the women would have risked losing future Hollywood career opportunities if they had publicly charged Weinstein at the time.
Weinstein was eventually convicted of abusing one woman but acquitted of sexual violence against another in the Los Angeles case.
