Harvey Weinstein charged with more rapes in California

Prosecutors say Harvey Weinstein has been charged with the rape of two more women in Los Angeles County

Sexual Misconduct-Harvey Weinstein (AP)

Harvey Weinstein was charged Friday with the rape of two more women Los Angeles County prosecutors said.

Weinstein was charged with three counts of rape and three counts of forcible oral copulation involving the two women, the district attorney's office said.

A criminal complaint alleges Weinstein raped a woman at a hotel in Beverly Hills between September 2004 and September 2005, and raped another woman twice between November 2009 and November 2010 at a Beverly Hills hotel.

Weinstein spokesman Juda Engelmayer said, “Harvey Weinstein has always maintained that every one of his physical encounters throughout his entire life have been consensual. That hasn’t changed. At this moment we cannot comment on the additional charges until we learn more about them.”

The new charges mean Weinstein is now charged with 11 felony counts in Los Angeles County, involving five women.

The 68-year-old former movie mogul is serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York on convictions for rape and sexual assault against two women.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles have begun the process of extraditing him, but agreed last month to delay attempts to bring him to California because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Weinstein was diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this year while serving time in a maximum-security prison near Buffalo, New York.

Another extradition hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11.