Harvey Weinstein, an example of how the mighty can fall, will be extradited to Los Angeles.

Gerson Repreza/Unsplash

He was once and for a very long time, the king of Hollywood, actors and actresses wanted to work with him as it could guarantee them an Oscar nomination, directors wanted him as their producer as he could make their movie a success and even the Queen of England honoured him with a CBE, the highest ranking Order of the British Empire award, but if there is an example of how much the mighty can fall, that is Harvey Weinstein, producer of many award-winning films including “Pulp Fiction” or “Shakespeare in Love”among many others.

In normal circumstances, he would now be finalising meetings for his forthcoming trip to the Cannes Film Festival that this year is taking place in July and where he walked the famous red carpet many times over the years while being photographed with famous starlets and the film industry high and mighty.

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His stunning downfall started in late 2017 when he became the poster boy of the #MeToo movement after The New Yorker magazine and The New York Times published articles detailing allegations by many women claiming he sexually assaulted them.

That led to criminal convictions and in February last year the Manhattan Supreme Court found him guilty of a first-degree criminal sexual act in 2006 and of third-degree rape in 2013, he is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence at the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, in New York State.

His lawyers filed an appeal of his conviction in April arguing that he did not receive a fair trial and received a very harsh sentence.

As if that wasn’t enough, the ailing movie mogul now faces an 11-count indictment in Los Angeles on charges of rape, sexual battery and other crimes in connection with five incidents that allegedly occurred between 2004 and 2013.

Despite Weinstein's team of lawyers trying to contest the extradition for months by citing medical reasons among other things, yesterday, Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case, rejected their arguments that Los Angeles prosecutors had not "appropriately filed paperwork" to claim custody of their client and cleared the way for Harvey Weinstein to be extradited to L.A.

The once-renowned film producer is soon coming back to the city that made him a film industry powerhouse but for circumstances he never thought he would have to face.

There is no date for his Los Angeles trial yet as since the COVID-19 pandemic started last March, not many trials have taken place in L.A. County and they have been facing a backlog of trials. There is also the jury selection, which for the Harvey Weinstein case could be just as long and difficult as his trial is expected to be.

In a statement, Erie County prosecutors supported Judge Kenneth Case ruling and their own legal procedures. They said it was "incumbent" on Los Angeles County prosecutors to extradite Harvey Weinstein to California.

His defence team as well as Mr Weinstein himself have always argued that any sexual activity he was involved with was consensual.

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