Harvey Weinstein Gets 15 Years in New York Retrial Sentence

Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 15 years in prison in New York after his conviction at a 2025 retrial for committing a criminal sexual act against Miriam Haley, a former assistant on the show Project Runway.

The sentence, handed down by Judge Curtis Farber, includes five years of post-release supervision and requires Weinstein to register as a sex offender. The judge directed that the New York term run consecutively to a separate 16-year sentence Weinstein faces in California, while noting that California authorities will determine how their sentence is applied.

Prosecutors had sought a 20-year term with five years of post-release supervision, while the defence asked for nine years, citing Weinstein's health and arguing that a longer sentence could mean he dies in prison. The offence, a Class B felony, carries a maximum of 25 years.

Addressing the court before sentencing, Weinstein said he was "not a perfect person" and acknowledged that his past conduct had harmed others, while maintaining his innocence. He apologised to anyone he may have hurt and asked for mercy, saying he was not a violent man. He also said that, if released, he hoped to set up a foundation called Transfer to help rehabilitate inmates after prison.

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg argued against any reduction, saying Weinstein deserved no less than his original sentence and had never shown remorse. She accused him of victim blaming and online harassment.

In her victim-impact statement, Haley said it was the second such statement she had given in the case and expressed hope it would be her last. She described testifying twice as traumatising and said she had considered abandoning the case, citing cross-examination, media attention, online hostility and the lasting effects of the assault. She said the fear, fatigue and shame faced by others had driven her to continue. Weinstein, seated in a wheelchair, did not look at her as she spoke.

Haley had testified during the April 2025 retrial that she met Weinstein at a film afterparty in 2004 and later reconnected with him at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006, where he offered her work on Project Runway. She said he forced oral sex on her at his Manhattan apartment that year and held her down as she protested.

Weinstein was first convicted in New York in 2020 of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann and sexually assaulting Haley, and was sentenced to 23 years. That conviction was overturned in 2024 after the New York Court of Appeals found the trial judge had improperly allowed testimony from women whose allegations were not part of the charges. At the retrial, Weinstein was convicted on the charge involving Haley but acquitted of a similar charge involving former model Kaja Sokola. The jury could not reach a verdict on the charge involving Mann, and prosecutors later dropped it after she decided not to testify again.

Weinstein has been imprisoned since 2020 and has spent time at Rikers Island while receiving hospital treatment. His attorney, Jacob Kaplan, told the court that treatment for cancer aggravates a heart condition and is expected to lead to further hospitalisations. His legal team has petitioned the California Supreme Court to review his conviction there, and no date has been set for a resentencing in that state.

Outside the courthouse, Haley appeared with Sokola and other witnesses alongside attorney Gloria Allred, who rejected suggestions that the sentencing marked the end of the #MeToo movement. Allred said the movement began decades before the allegations against Weinstein became public and would continue.