A judge in New York has allowed the sexual assault case against Harvey Weinstein to move forward.
Weinstein's lawyers had filed a slew of motions seeking to dismiss the case. They claimed that the case against the Hollywood producer had been “irreparably tainted” by a police detective who they claim acted improperly while investigating Weinstein.
According to the Associated Press, Judge James Burke denied that motion on Thursday morning. Weinstein maintains that he is innocent of the allegations against him. Weinstein, who has faced waves of sexual assault accusations, many from famous actresses, is accused of raping an unidentified woman in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on another woman in 2006.
Some of the charges against Weinstein have already been dropped. A case that alleged Weinstein raped an actress while she was still in college thrown out after it was revealed that Detective Nicholas DiGuadio instructed a witness to keep her doubts about the accusations to herself.
DiGuadio was also suspected of telling the accuser from 2013 to delete material off her phone before handing it over as evidence.
"We intend to vigorously defend this case to the best of our ability,” Weinstein's attorney Benjamin Brafman said after the hearing, per WPIX. “It does not in any way suggest that the case against Mr. Weinstein is going to end badly.”
Brafman and Weinstein have also attempted to paint a picture of a consensual relationship between Weinstein and one of his accusers. They shared "complimentary and solicitous messages" that Weinstein's team claim absolve him of guilt.
Weinstein's 2013 accuser claimed that he forcibly performed oral sex on her in his office. She said Weinstein boasted about making Jennifer Lawrence's career after a similar situation.
“Do you even want to be an actress?" she recalled Weinstein saying. “I slept with Jennifer Lawrence and look where she is; she has just won an Oscar.”
Lawrence denied the idea that she slept with the producer.
“My heart breaks for all the women who were victimized by Harvey Weinstein,” Lawrence said, per Variety. “I have never had anything but a professional relationship with him. This is yet another example of the predatory tactics and lies that he engaged in to lure countless women.”
