Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Tuesday for the 2006 sexual assault of former production assistant Miriam Haley, capping a years-long legal saga that helped define the #MeToo era. The 74-year-old former Miramax boss was convicted last year of forcing oral sex on Haley at his Manhattan apartment.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had sought a 20-year term, while Weinstein's defense team asked for nine years. Judge Curtis Farber delivered the sentence in a Manhattan courtroom, telling the disgraced producer: «You had it all. But you threw it all away.» Farber acknowledged Weinstein's celebrated filmography but said those achievements were dwarfed by «what you became, a sexual predator, the literal face of the #MeToo movement.»
The judge also criticized Weinstein for showing a «lack of remorse» and for having «never accepted responsibility,» adding: «To this day, you have yet to achieve the self-reflection necessary for change.»
Before sentencing, Weinstein addressed the court, saying, «I'm not a perfect person,» and offering what he described as a sincere apology to anyone he may have hurt. He expressed «remorse for Miriam Haley's pain» but reiterated his innocence and asked Farber for mercy so he could spend his remaining years with his children.
Haley also spoke, telling the court the assault «ate away at my self-worth.» She described testifying against Weinstein as «the worst decision of my life» because of the toll the process took, adding: «I considered pulling out so many times. But for every person who gets scared, tired, intimidated, or shamed, I knew those were the reasons I had to keep going.»
The sentence follows a lengthy series of appeals and retrials in New York. Weinstein was initially found guilty in 2020 of sexually assaulting Haley and raping Jessica Mann, receiving a 23-year prison term. The New York Court of Appeals overturned that conviction in 2024, ruling that the original trial judge had improperly allowed women to testify about allegations that were not part of the charges before the jury.
At his 2025 retrial, Weinstein was again convicted of sexually assaulting Haley. Jurors acquitted him of a separate sexual assault charge involving Kaja Sokola but could not reach a verdict on the allegation that he raped Mann. That charge was retried earlier this year and ended in another hung jury in May. Prosecutors dropped the charge the following month after Mann said she could not endure another trial.
Weinstein was also convicted of rape and sexual assault in California in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. That conviction remains in place, but a California appeals court vacated the 16-year sentence in June and ordered a new sentencing hearing after finding that the trial judge had relied on Weinstein's since-overturned New York convictions as an aggravating factor.
Weinstein has remained continuously in custody since his first New York conviction in 2020. When that conviction was overturned in 2024, he was not released because his separate California conviction and sentence remained in force. After the California sentence was vacated in June, his 2025 New York conviction remained outstanding while he awaited Tuesday's sentencing. He will therefore remain imprisoned under the new 15-year New York sentence while awaiting resentencing in California.
Farber said it was his intention that the New York term run consecutively to whatever sentence Weinstein ultimately receives in California, though California will have the final say on how the two sentences are served.
More than 80 women have accused the former Miramax boss of sexual misconduct since allegations against him became public in 2017, helping to galvanize the #MeToo movement. Weinstein has consistently denied rape and sexual assault and maintained that sexual encounters were consensual.
Earlier this year, he gave his first interview in six years from Rikers Island, describing prison as «Hell» and again denying sexually assaulting any women. «Did I make a pass at some of these women unsuccessfully? Did I overplay my hand? Yes,» he said. «Was I pushy or overly seductive? Yes to all of that.» He continued: «But did I ever sexually assault a woman? No. I never did that.»
Rosanna Arquette subsequently rejected claims Weinstein made about her in the interview after he accused her and other actors of having «exaggerated» their allegations against him. Last December, Judi Dench was criticized after saying Weinstein had «done his time.» The actor, who worked on a number of Weinstein-backed films, said she had personally had «none of that experience» with him.
Weinstein was also mentioned alongside Jay-Z and Pusha T in a batch of Jeffrey Epstein-related files released by the US Justice Department in February. The reference came from an unverified tip submitted to the FBI and was not from Epstein's personal records or a law enforcement finding. Being named in the documents was not evidence of wrongdoing, and the Justice Department warned that the release included material submitted by members of the public that could be false.