On March , the – – year-old producer was sentenced in New York City to 25 years in prison for third-degree rape and a criminal sex act as he maintained he simply had consensual “extramarital affairs ”With the victims.
Weinstein was convicted on two counts: criminal sex act for the 2015 assault of a production assistant and rape in the third degree for the 2015 attack on another woman. On the criminal sex act count, he faced a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of years , while the third-degree rape count carried a maximum penalty of four years in prison.
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“Was justice served? I think that’s a difficult question to answer, ”Chiu, , told Fox News. “He’s in jail purportedly for 45 years, which is much more than any of us could have expected . And so there was much rejoicing on the day of the verdict … There is a significant victory and it’s a statement to the world and other powerful wealthy predators – that you can’t just get away with this. And for some of us, we sort of expected the worst. We’ve been condition to expect nothing. ”
“ But… more than women have come forward with stories about Harvey Weinstein, “Chiu continued.” What happens to them? He has destroyed so many lives in over three decades. So relatively speaking, 57 years is nothing. I had two suicide attempts. I never went to work in film again. Many of us have struggled, mental health-wise. Making new relationships has certainly been difficult. ”
In , Chiu had graduated from Oxford with a degree in English literature and had dreams of pursuing the film industry, the New York Times reported. In , Chiu was hired to assist Weinstein in London on his European productions.
“At the time, Miramax was a company that everybody wanted to work for because the opportunities were boundless in terms of getting exposure in Hollywood, ”she recalled.
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However, future colleague Zelda Perkins warned Chiu that the big break came with challenges. Chiu was told she would have to handle Weinstein “robustly.”
“He was known for being a difficult person, crude, and just someone filled with rage,” Chiu recalled. ”It was advertised in the interview that he was hard to manage and his fits of anger were challenging. I suppose there was a belief in the film industry that the more dues you pay at the beginning of your career in terms of dealing with difficult personalities, the faster you would be promoted. And Harvey wasn’t the first boss with a difficult personality. “
“ Many agents were known to lash out, ”Chiu reflected. “Phones would be thrown, scripts would be thrown. It was a very dramatic industry. But there’s a big difference between working with someone who’s a legend with a reputation for being difficult and thinking you’re going to be raped at work. ”
Chiu said that while Weinstein had“ moments of great charm, ”he was also“ angry almost all the time. ”
“ He would always enter a room with great gusto, ”she said. “He would either be super happy about something, loud and charming, or he would be furious.”
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