May 25, 2018

Harvey Weinstein Finally Surrenders to Authorities on Sex Crime Charges

Harvey Weinstein surrendered to authorities in Manhattan Friday morning to face charges of rape and sexual abuse stemming from an investigation launched by the Manhattan District Attorney and New York Police Department. The alleged incidents took place in 2013 and 2004 and involve two women. 

“We intend to move very quickly to dismiss these charges,” Weinstein’s lawyer Benjamin Braffman said. “We believe that they are constitutionally flawed. We believe that they are not factually supported by the evidence and we believe that at the end of the process Mr. Weinstein will be exonerated.”

The disgraced movie executive has been the subject of multiple criminal investigations in the wake of explosive accounts first published in the New York Times and New Yorker last year that detailed allegations of abuse, rape, and sexual misconduct by dozens of women, including a string of high-profile actresses, against Weinstein. After the women went public with their stories seven months ago, the once-powerful movie producer has been in relative hiding, checking himself into an Arizona sex addiction rehabilitation center to escape the paparazzi.

However, according to a recent Vanity Fair report Weinstein never completed his stint. He has denied any wrongdoing.

This post has been updated.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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