Former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein underwent a successful emergency heart surgery on Monday morning at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, according to his legal team.
Weinstein, 72, was transferred from Rikers Island on Sunday night due to “severe medical conditions” after reporting symptoms such as feeling unwell, a persistent cough, and weight gain, his publicist Juda Engelmayer and representative Craig Rothfeld stated. He was admitted to the ICU at the Manhattan hospital, where he underwent surgery to remove a large amount of fluid from his lungs and heart.
“We can confirm that Mr. Weinstein had a procedure and surgery on his heart today,” his representatives said. Rothfeld also mentioned to NBC New York that Weinstein was conscious and talking as he recovered Monday evening. They plan to keep him in the hospital indefinitely during his retrial to address his health issues.
Weinstein remains in custody in New York while awaiting a retrial on rape and sexual assault charges in Manhattan. Since his return to Rikers Island from state prison in April, he has been frequently in and out of Bellevue Hospital.
In July, he was hospitalized for a range of health problems, including COVID-19 and pneumonia in both lungs, according to his representatives.
Weinstein, who denies the rape and sexual assault allegations against him, was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 while already serving a 23-year sentence in New York. However, his 2020 conviction in Manhattan was overturned earlier this year by the state’s top court, which ruled that the trial judge had unfairly allowed testimony based on allegations that were not directly part of the case.