NBC News
Convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein underwent heart surgery Monday after complaining about his health and was transferred from a New York City prison to a local hospital, a representative for the former Hollywood producer said.
Weinstein, whose 2020 rape conviction was overturned earlier this year, is in the Intensive Care Unit at Bellvue Hospital awaiting test results and more details from doctors, representative Craig Rothfeld said.
Weinstein, 72, was transferred from the jail on Rikers Island to the hospital after he complained about his health and gained significant weight due to medications, Rothfeld said.
He underwent surgery on Monday to drain a significant amount of fluid from his lungs and heart, he said.
“We can confirm that Weinstein underwent a procedure and heart surgery this morning.”his publicist Juda Engelmayer and prison consultant Craig Rothfeld told .
In July, he was hospitalized for a “number of health conditions” and tested positive for COVID-19 and double pneumonia, his rep said. At the time, Weinstein was taken to the hospital to be treated for “conditions that continue to affect him on a daily basis including diabetes, hypertension, spinal stenosis, fluid in his heart and lungs and a number of other conditions,” according to his reps.
Weinstein was convicted in New York and Los Angeles on six counts, and was sentenced to 16 years in prison in the California case. He was sentenced to another 23 years in New York, but that sentence was overturned in April after a court ruled that the judge failed to allow some women to testify about allegations that were not part of that case.
A grand jury in New York is considering whether to bring new charges against him, a source with knowledge of the proceedings told NBC News last week. The former Hollywood executive has maintained that all of his sexual encounters were consensual, but dozens of women — more than 80 — have accused him of rape or sexual harassment.
