Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein has pled not guilty to sexually assaulting five women in Los Angeles.
Weinstein, 69, was charged with four counts of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation, two counts of sexual battery by restraint, and one count of sexual penetration by use of force by the Los Angeles County District Attorney, People reports.
Associated Press reports that Weinstein, who is a convicted rapist, appeared in the court in a wheelchair, and he was wearing a brown jail jumpsuit and face mask.
"Anyone who abuses their power and influence to prey upon others will be brought to justice," District Attorney George Gascón said.
Weinstein is accused of raping a woman at a Beverly Hills hotel between September 2004 and September 2005 and a second woman in Beverly Hills between November 2009 and November 2010 on two separate occasions.
He is also accused of sexually assaulting another woman at a Beverly Hills hotel in May 2010 and another two women during separate incidents in 2013.
At his trial in New York, the convicted rapist said that he has only ever engaged in consensual sexual encounters.
This comes after the disgraced producer was accused of assault by 80 women after 2017 exposés in The New York Times and The New Yorker.
"Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances," his spokesman said in a previous statement cited by The Guardian in 2017.
Weinstein's lawyer similarly said that the allegations against him are unfounded, per BBC.
"They are baseless, they are from long, long ago, they are uncorroborated," Mark Werksman said after the hearing.
The convicted rapist's lawyer also requested that he have a health check during the hearing.
"He's going blind in one eye," Werksman told reporters.
Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year prison after he was found guilty of a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree.
Reuters reports that he is scheduled to appear in court again on July 29, 2021.
If he is convicted on the current charges, Weinstein is facing a maximum sentence of 140 years.
