Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to one count of a criminal sex act in the first-degree Wednesday, according to multiple reports.
Weinstein, 72, appeared in a New York court, where he was formally arraigned on the charge after missing last week's indictment due to emergency heart surgery.
According to New York penal code, first-degree criminal sex act is when "oral sexual conduct or anal sexual conduct with another person" happens by "forcible compulsion," NBC News reported.
The new charge is separate from the 2020 rape and sexual assault allegations brought against him by aspiring actress Jessica Mann and production assistant Miriam Haley. In April, a Court of Appeals threw out his 23-year prison sentence after a panel of judges ruled unfair testimony from other women who weren't part of the case was permitted, the Associated Press previously reported.
A retrial was tentatively slated for November, but prosecutors – who are hoping to add the new charge to the original indictment – have hinted they won't be ready in time, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Weinstein remains imprisoned after he was sentenced to 16 years for rape and sex assault in separate cases in California, but a lawyer for the convicted sex offender previously argued those 2022 convictions should also be tossed.
Weinstein has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and alleged any sex was consensual.
