Los Angeles D.A. Files Extradition Request for Harvey Weinstein

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has filed a request to extradite Harvey Weinstein, as it seeks to try him on five counts of sexual assault and rape.

The D.A.’s office had previously filed a detainer on New York State prison authorities, the first step in a process that has been slowed considerably by the coronavirus pandemic. New York authorities are now expected to set a hearing on whether to move Weinstein to Los Angeles.

The producer is serving a 23-year sentence at Wende Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison near Buffalo, N.Y., after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in February. If convicted on the charges in Los Angeles, he faces up to an additional 29 years.

Weinstein faces three charges in connection with the alleged rape of an Italian model at a hotel room on Feb. 18, 2013. He is also accused of sexually assaulting a second woman the following day. The charges were filed on the opening day of Weinstein’s New York trial in January.

The prosecutors added a fifth count against Weinstein in April, accusing him of sexual battery of a third woman on May 11, 2010. That charge was filed just weeks before the expiration of the 10-year statute of limitations.

The D.A.’s office filed the extradition request on July 20. Assuming he is moved to Los Angeles, he would be held in the county jail pending the outcome of the trial, and then transferred back to New York to complete his sentence there.