Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein will finally answer for rape allegations against him starting this week.
More than two years after the first of more than 80 sexual assault or sexual abuse allegations against Weinstein kickstarted the #MeToo movement, the celebrity-laced case will take center stage in the Big Apple when jury selection begins Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
That process alone could take two weeks because the notoriety surrounding the high-profile criminal case prompted court officials to send summonses to an unusual 2,000 potential jurors. Five hundred responded and must now be whittled down to 18 — a dozen jurors and six alternates.
Pre-trial motions begin Monday, with the trial itself expected to last six weeks following two weeks of jury selection.
“This trial is one of the highest-profile the state has seen in a very long time,” said Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration.
Chalfen said 150 journalists from throughout the US and the world have obtained credentials for the trial — not counting the New York City press corps.
“Media interest is from Moscow to Buenos Aires,” he said. “All of Europe is well represented. There are 10 outlets just from France.”
Weinstein, 67, is facing five charges, including two counts of predatory sexual assault.
Those charges allege that he exhibited a pattern of assault in sexual attacks involving “The Sopranos” actress Annabelle Sciorra in 1993 or 1994 and an unnamed woman in 2013 in one count — and Sciorra and production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 in the other count.
Sciorra is expected to testify at the trial.
Weinstein is also charged with two counts of rape and one count of a criminal sex act for the alleged attacks on Haleyi and the anonymous woman.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in August and has repeatedly claimed that all the acts he’s charged with were consensual.
Weinstein, who has been free on $2 million bond pending the start of the trial, could face life in prison if convicted of the charges in the indictment.
But the New York case won’t be his only hurdle.
Prosecutors in California announced last month that they are reviewing eight cases of alleged sexual misconduct against the fallen producer, including a claim by an unnamed Italian model that Weinstein raped her at the Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel in 2013.
Weinstein is also facing civil lawsuits filed by dozens of women who claim they were sexually assaulted.
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