Harvey Weinstein, American director and producer
Harvey Weinstein (; born March 19, 1952) is an American former film producer and convicted sex offender. He and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced successful independent films including Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989); The Crying Game (1992); Pulp Fiction (1994); Heavenly Creatures (1994); Flirting with Disaster (1996); and Shakespeare in Love (1998). Weinstein won an Academy Award for producing Shakespeare in Love and seven Tony Awards for plays and musicals, including The Producers, Billy Elliot the Musical, and August: Osage County. After leaving Miramax, Weinstein and his brother Bob founded The Weinstein Company, a mini-major film studio. He was co-chairman, alongside Bob, from 2005 to 2017.
In October 2017, following sexual abuse allegations dating back to the late 1970s, Weinstein was dismissed from his company and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. More than 80 women had made allegations against Weinstein by October 31. The allegations sparked the #MeToo social media campaign and many sexual abuse allegations against powerful men around the world; this phenomenon is referred to as the "Weinstein effect". Weinstein was arrested and charged with rape in New York in May 2018. He was found guilty of two of five felonies in February 2020, was sentenced to 23 years in prison, and started serving his sentence at Wende Correctional Facility. His earliest possible release date is November 9, 2039, when he will be 87. On July 20, 2021, he was extradited to Los Angeles to face further charges at a subsequent trial.