ADVERTISEMENT

These Are the 6 Women Who Are Testifying Against Harvey Weinstein

NEW YORK — One actress accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her after he had pushed his way into her New York City apartment in 1993. A second woman said he forcibly performed oral sex on her inside of his Tribeca apartment in 2006. Seven years later, in a hotel in Manhattan, the Hollywood producer allegedly raped a third woman.

These Are the 6 Women Who Are Testifying Against Harvey Weinstein

A fourth woman said he slipped his hand into her vagina during a business meeting. A fifth said he groped her in a hotel, masturbated and ejaculated onto a bathroom floor. Then, a sixth woman said Weinstein raped her in his apartment when they met to discuss an acting role.

All six women are expected to testify against Weinstein at his trial in state Supreme Court in Manhattan — the most anticipated case in recent history.

More than 90 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct including rape, unwanted touching and harassment. Allegations against the producer prompted the #MeToo movement, and his trial has focused attention on the complicated issues of consent and power dynamics in the workplace.

Weinstein used “his power and prestige in the entertainment industry to ensure their silence,” Meghan Hast, a prosecutor, said in opening remarks last week.

ADVERTISEMENT

The criminal indictment charges Weinstein with sexually assaulting two of the women, but the remaining four will testify about their encounters with him to show a pattern of abuse. Weinstein is accused of five felony counts, including rape and predatory sexual assault. He faces life in prison if the jury of seven men and five women convict him of the last charge.

The prosecution’s case turns on whether jurors believe the women’s testimony. Prosecutors have no physical evidence to support their accounts.

Weinstein has maintained that the encounters were consensual. The women, he said, engaged in transactional relationships meant to advance their own careers.

His lawyers have also pointed to hundreds of emails in which the communication between Weinstein and some of the women appear friendly long after the alleged sexual assaults.

“He was not this master manipulator,” said Damon Cheronis, one of Weinstein’s lawyers, adding that the prosecution’s case is “a preview to a movie you are not going to see.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Cheronis suggested in his opening remarks that the other women had only come forward with allegations against the producer recently and that their stories had changed over time.

Here’s what we know about all six women and their allegations against the producer.

Annabella Sciorra

Last week, one of the women, actress Annabella Sciorra, 59, best known for her roles in “The Sopranos” and “Jungle Fever,” recounted the night she said Weinstein raped her.

Sciorra’s allegation is too old to be prosecuted separately as rape under New York law.

ADVERTISEMENT

But it was added to the criminal case to support the predatory sexual assault charge in which prosecutors have to prove that Weinstein sexually assaulted at least two women. Prosecutors hope her account can further support that charge.

Sciorra met Weinstein at a party in Los Angeles in the early 1990s when she was an up-and-coming actress and he was a young producer. Over the years, Weinstein had sent her inappropriate gifts: Valium and popcorn, and a box of chocolate penises, she said.

Then after a dinner party in the winter of either 1993 or 1994, Weinstein gave Sciorra a ride home. Minutes after dropping her off, she said Weinstein returned to her Gramercy Park apartment, barged in after she opened the door and raped her, Sciorra told a jury on Thursday.

“I was trying to get him off me,” Sciorra said as she choked back tears. “I was punching him, kicking him. He got on top of me and he raped me.”

(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.)

ADVERTISEMENT

In the years after the assault, Sciorra said, Weinstein continued to harass her. On one occasion, she recalled, he showed up unannounced at her hotel room in London. She changed rooms in the middle of the night.

In 1997, Sciorra told the jury, she went to the Cannes Film Festival to promote her movie “Cop Land.” One morning, at 5 a.m., she said, she opened the door of her hotel room to find Weinstein standing in the hallway in his underwear. He had a bottle of baby oil in one hand and a videotape in the other.

Sciorra said she “pressed all of the call buttons” on the telephone in the room and Weinstein left.

On Friday, Sciorra’s friend, actress Rosie Perez, testified about what Sciorra had told her regarding the alleged rape sometime after the encounter and a few months later, said that her attacker was Weinstein.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM.)

ADVERTISEMENT

Mimi Haleyi

Mimi Haleyi was a young production assistant, born in England and raised in Sweden, trying to make it in the industry, prosecutors said.

Haleyi met Weinstein in the winter of 2004 at a film premiere in London. At the time, she was working for Michael White, a producer.

Two years later, White had become sick and Haleyi needed work, prosecutors said. At the Cannes Film Festival in March 2006, Haleyi saw Weinstein and asked if he might have any work for her in New York City.

They met at a hotel where he suggested that she could provide assistance on the set of “Project Runway.” Soon, Weinstein asked her for a massage, the prosecutor said. Haleyi refused and left the meeting.

ADVERTISEMENT

Still, Haleyi took a job on the set of “Project Runway.” Eventually, Weinstein invited Haleyi to meet him at the Mercer Hotel for a drink. During the meeting, Weinstein said Haleyi could return for the next season of the show.

Weinstein had also invited her to take a private jet with him to Paris for a fashion show, which she declined, prosecutors said. But she later accepted a trip to Los Angeles paid by his company.

Before the trip to Los Angeles, Weinstein, prosecutors said, invited Haleyi to his home. During that meeting, she told prosecutors that the producer, despite her protests, yanked a tampon from her vagina and forcibly performed oral sex on her.

She later told a roommate what happened and they told her to tell the police, but she did not.

She continued to share project ideas with him and accept tickets to premieres.

ADVERTISEMENT

Weinstein is charged with one count of criminal sexual act and predatory sexual assault involving Haleyi.

Haleyi, now a producer, is best known for her work in “Shoot Me! 2,” and “The Last Impresario.”

Jessica Mann

Seven years after prosecutors say Weinstein sexually assaulted Haleyi, they say he raped Jessica Mann in the spring of 2013.

Mann, then 27, was an aspiring actress, raised in the evangelical church and from a dairy farm in Washington state, when she met Weinstein.

ADVERTISEMENT

Prosecutors said Mann had fled an abusive home at 16. At 25, she moved to Los Angeles, hoping to make it in the entertainment industry. Living with another aspiring actress, Mann managed to get small roles in commercials and independent films.

She met Weinstein at a party in Los Angeles. Not long after, prosecutors said she met with the movie mogul’s assistant, Barbara Schneeweiss, to discuss acting.

At some point, Weinstein and Mann met at a hotel where, during a conversation about business, he said he wanted to give her a massage. Mann ended up giving him a massage instead.

Prosecutors said Weinstein invited Mann to parties held by The Weinstein Co., his production studio, and he followed up with her about acting. Mann, prosecutors said, believed that Weinstein was still interested in her career.

Weinstein met with Mann and her friend at a hotel. He told the women he had lead parts for them in a movie.

ADVERTISEMENT

Prosecutors said Weinstein separated the women, taking Mann into a bedroom where he performed oral sex on her, even as she protested. When he was finished, prosecutors said he reminded her of the power he wielded in the industry.

Mann, prosecutors said, maintained a relationship with Weinstein to save her career.

Then on March 18, 2013, prosecutors said Mann who was in New York City, contacted Weinstein to set up a breakfast meeting at the Doubletree Hotel in Manhattan.

Weinstein, prosecutors said, arrived at the hotel early, and once in her room, injected his genitals with an erection medication and raped her.

She continued a relationship with him for years, prosecutors said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Weinstein is charged with first and third degree rape, and predatory sexual assault involving Mann’s allegations.

Dawn Dunning

Dawn Dunning, then 24, was a waitress and an aspiring actress from Ohio when she met Weinstein in 2004 at PM Lounge, a now defunct club in New York City’s meatpacking district.

Weinstein took interest in her as an actress, prosecutors said, and the two met several times to discuss her career. She had attended a taping at the Miramax office, a studio, and had accepted tickets to a Broadway show from Weinstein, who she believed had become a mentor, prosecutors said.

One day, Weinstein invited Dunning to a hotel in Tribeca, where he had an office set up for a shoot he was doing in the area. When she arrived, there was camera equipment and people working, prosecutors said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Weinstein led Dunning into a bedroom, where they discussed acting. Prosecutors said Weinstein then slid his hand under her skirt and inserted his fingers into her vagina. When she jumped up, prosecutors said, Weinstein apologized for what had happened.

(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.)

Soon after, Weinstein invited Dunning to a hotel in Manhattan, where he wanted her to sign contracts for parts in movies he was producing, prosecutors said. Dunning arrived at the hotel with one of Weinstein’s assistants when she opened the door and found the producer in a bathrobe.

“‘You can have all three of these parts if you have a threesome with me and my assistant,’” prosecutors said Weinstein told Dunning. “‘This is how the industry works. How do you think other actresses got ahead?’”

Dunning, now a costume designer, fled the hotel and never spoke to Weinstein again. Her account will show Weinstein’s history of abuse, prosecutors said.

ADVERTISEMENT

(END OPTIONAL TRIM.)

Lauren Young

In February 2012, Lauren Young, then 22, was a model in New York City eager to break into the acting industry when she moved to Los Angeles and met Weinstein at a dinner.

Young was writing a script — a dark comedy based on her life — when a woman reached out to her and said Weinstein was interested in reviewing it, prosecutors said. She agreed to meet him and the woman at a bar in the Montage, a hotel in Beverly Hills.

Weinstein, prosecutors said, claimed he had to prepare a speech that he had to give for Quentin Tarantino at an event that night and asked the women to come up to his apartment to finish the conversation.

ADVERTISEMENT

As they talked, Young ended up in a bathroom with Weinstein, who had pulled down her dress, groped her breasts, masturbated and ejaculated onto the floor, prosecutors said.

After the encounter, Young never spoke to Weinstein again, prosecutors said.

Tarale Wulff

In 2005, Tarale Wulff, an aspiring actress from Long Island, was a cocktail waitress at a members’ only club above Cipriani’s, a restaurant on Broadway in SoHo.

Weinstein, the restaurant owner’s friend, always sat at the owner’s table where staff were expected to treat him well.

ADVERTISEMENT

One night in the spring or summer of that year, Weinstein pulled her into a secluded stairwell in the lounge and masturbated before she ran away from him, prosecutors said.

Still, Wulff agreed to meet with him at his company’s office to discuss a potential role in “Pulse,” a movie that was being produced by Weinstein’s brother, Robert Weinstein, in Los Angeles.

But Harvey Weinstein had her taken from the company office to his apartment, where Wulff said he raped her.

“Tarale protested ‘No, please, I can’t,’” Hast, the prosecutor, said in court last week. “He told her not to worry, that he could not have kids.”

Wulff, a model, now 43, never spoke to Weinstein again.

ADVERTISEMENT

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .

Enhance Your Pulse News Experience!

Get rewards worth up to $20 when selected to participate in our exclusive focus group. Your input will help us to make informed decisions that align with your needs and preferences.

I've got feedback!

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh

ADVERTISEMENT