UK prosecutors authorize charges against Harvey Weinstein for indecent assault of woman in 1996

LONDON — English prosecutors said Wednesday they have authorized police to charge ex-film producer Harvey Weinstein with two counts of indecent assault against a woman in London in 1996.

The Crown Prosecution Service, which covers England and Wales, said in a statement that “charges have been authorized” against Weinstein, 70, following a review of evidence gathered by London’s Metropolitan Police in its investigation.

As is common, the CPS did not provide further details. Its statement reiterated that Weinstein, like all criminal defendants, has a right to a fair trial.

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After revelations about Weinstein's alleged longtime predatory behavior against women emerged in 2017, British police said they were investigating multiple allegations of sexual assault against Weinstein over several decades.

Unlike many other countries, Britain does not have a statute of limitations for rape or sexual assault.

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Police said the alleged offenses against the accuser, now in her 50s, took place during July and August 1996.

Under English law, sexual assault accusers are not publicly identified even at a trial. On the various lists of accusers against Weinstein compiled by the media after 2017, multiple unidentified women accused Weinstein of rape or sexual assault in London in encounters dating as far back as the 1980s.

Also according to English law, Weinstein will not be formally charged until he is physically in England.

Weinstein is currently in jail in Los Angeles where he is facing 11 sex-crime charges. A hearing is scheduled for Friday to set a trial date in that case, in which he is charged with sexually assaulting five women in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills hotels in alleged encounters between 2004 to 2013.

Weinstein's lawyer in the case, Mark Werksman, criticized the manner in which the English authorities brought the charges against Weinstein.

"This is another example of prosecution-by-ambush, where the authorities announce 26-year-old charges against Mr. Weinstein by anonymous accusers without first giving him a chance to address and rebut the allegations, in an effort to further tar-and-feather him in the public’s eye," Werksman told USA TODAY.

Weinstein's spokesman, Juda Engelmayer, raised a similar objection.

"It is strange and even unhelpful for (CPS) to release this information without having interviewed him, given him any previous disclosure regarding the allegations, and not producing an actual charge sheet nor any plan of how they intend to proceed with the matter," Engelmayer told USA TODAY.

Until he was extradited to Los Angeles last year, Weinstein was serving a 23-year sentence in a New York state prison following his 2020 conviction in Manhattan on two sex crimes against two women.

Last week, a New York appellate court upheld his conviction; Weinstein's lawyers have vowed to appeal that ruling to a higher court.

The Weinstein announcement in England arrives two weeks after the CPS authorized police to charge Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey with four counts of sexual assault involving three men. The alleged incidents took place in London between March 2005 and August 2008, and one in western England in April 2013.

Spacey, who has been accused but not convicted of any alleged sex crimes in the U.S., said last week he would voluntarily go the U.K. to face the charges rather than force the English government to extradite him.

Contributing: Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harvey Weinstein to be charged with indecent assault in UK