Harvey Weinstein rushed from jail to undergo emergency heart surgery

Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, 72, was rushed from a New York prison to hospital for emergency heart surgery on Monday, US media reported.

US media quoted Weinstein's representatives as saying he was taken to New York's Bellevue Hospital "due to several medical conditions."

"We can confirm that Mr Weinstein had a procedure and surgery on his heart today however (we) cannot comment any further than that," the statement from Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer said.

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Weinstein is being held at the Rikers Island prison, where he is serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted on rape charges by a California court.

He had also been convicted by a New York court in 2020 of the rape and sexual assault of actor Jessica Mann and of forcibly performing oral sex on a production assistant. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison in that case.

An appeals court, however, overturned that conviction in April, a shock reversal in one of the defining cases of the #MeToo movement. He is now awaiting retrial in that case.

Prosecutors say they may bring new sexual assault charges against him ahead of the retrial, and Weinstein was due to attend a procedural hearing in that case on Thursday.

His lawyers have argued for a retrial in the California case, too.

Arthur Aidala, Weinstein's lawyer, said in July that his client's health had been deteriorating in prison.

The once-powerful film mogul has made court appearances in a wheelchair, looking frail and pale.

"He's not a young man, he's a sick man," Aidala said at the time. "His diabetes is going through the roof."