‘She Got Money’: Harvey Weinstein’s Defense Quarrels With Prosecutors on His 74th Birthday Over How To Explain $500,000 Award to Accuser

The woman who accuses the disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein of raping her at a Manhattan hotel in 2013 received $500,000 through a victim compensation fund, an award that the defense argues puts her motivations in question. On Wednesday the parties discussed how this issue would be addressed during the upcoming retrial in April. The judge said he would rule next week. “Mann never sued,” an assistant district attorney, Matthew Colangelo, told the court on Wednesday morning, referring to the onetime aspiring actress and current hairstylist Jessica Mann, who claims Mr. Weinstein raped her at a Manhattan hotel in 2013. Several of Weinstein’s other accusers did sue him and his companies and won settlements for those parties and their insurers. “She never filed a lawsuit,” the prosecutor went on. “She participated in the funds after he had already been convicted of raping her. It’s important to Ms. Mann’s testimony that she was not motivated by money.” This coming April will mark the third time that Ms. Mann’s charge will be brought against Weinstein at Manhattan criminal court. Weinstein denies the rape accusation. Jessica Mann arrives for the first retrial of former film producer Harvey Weinstein at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2025 in New York City. Pamela Smith-Pool/Getty ImagesIn 2020, Weinstein had his first trial, where he was found guilty of Ms. Mann’s charge and also guilty of a sexual assault charge brought by former production assistant Miriam Haley. The judge sentenced him to 23 years in prison.Then, in 2024, Weinstein scored a landmark victory when New York’s Court of Appeals overturned those convictions and ordered a new trial. The court had found that the trial judge wrongly admitted testimony against Weinstein based on vivid allegations from women – including “Sopranos” star Annabella Sciorra – who were not part of the indictment. Weinstein, however, remained incarcerated because he was also convicted in California for sex crimes and sentenced there to 16 years in prison. He is currently being held at the infirmary on New York’s notorious Rikers Island, where he recently told an interviewer he is dying. Weinstein’s second New York trial took place in the spring of 2025. The Manhattan jury rendered a split verdict on the three-count indictment. Weinstein was acquitted of the sex crime, regarding a former Polish model, Kaja Sokola, who alleged that the producer forcibly performed oral sex on her at a Manhattan hotel room in 2006 (this was a new charge the prosecution added for the second trial). But he was convicted of the sex crime, involving Ms. Haley, who claimed he forcibly performed unwanted oral sex on her at his Manhattan apartment, also in 2006. Harvey Weinstein appears for a hearing in State Supreme court in Manhattan on March 19, 2026. Jefferson Siegel – Pool/Getty ImagesMs. Mann’s accusation of third-degree rape remained unresolved. The judge declared a mistrial after the jury’s foreman declined to return to the deliberation room, stating on the record that deliberations had become intolerable for him. After Weinstein refused to take a guilty plea, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office decided to go to trial for a third time. The retrial had originally been scheduled for March 3, but the date got derailed because Weinstein switched attorneys, hiring Agnifilo Intrater, the same firm that represents the alleged CEO killer Luigi Mangione and the disgraced music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs. Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan were both present in the courtroom on Wednesday to discuss various pretrial motions with the presiding judge, Curtis Faber. Weinstein was also sitting in the courtroom in a wheelchair.He was celebrating his 74th birthday on Wednesday. His media spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer told the New York Post, “No presents other than the promise of a vigorous defense, looked at through a new and different set of eyes than previously.” One of the questions was how to present to the jury the fact that Ms. Mann received $500,000 through a settlement fund. Miriam Haley (L) returns to the courtroom after taking a short break from a delay in proceedings before continuing to testify in the retrial of former film producer Harvey Weinstein at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 2, 2025 in New York City. John Angelillo-Pool/Getty ImagesIn January 2012, a bankruptcy judge approved a $17 million settlement for Weinstein’s sexual misconduct accusers, stemming from the liquidation of The Weinstein Company. The fund – paid for largely by insurers – was part of a $35 million bankruptcy plan that provided compensation to over 50 claimants, with the most serious allegations receiving $500,000 or more. Ms. Mann was one of the recipients, but she received the money after Weinstein was convicted during the 2020 trial of having raped her. “This is not about money for me,” Ms. Mann testified during the trial in 2025, when questioned on the subject by the defense. “We want the jury to see what the actual sexual insurance fund was,” Mr. Colangelo told the judge on Wednesday, adding that he wished to be granted the ability “to actually describe the fund” and point out to the jury that the insurance “wasn’t handing money out like candy.” Kaja Sokola is flanked by attorneys Megan Goddard and Lindsay Goldbrum after a partial verdict was delivered in the Harvey Weinstein retrial at Manhattan criminal court on June 11, 2025. Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesThe defense pushed back. Mr. Kaplan, who was a member of Weinstein’s original defense team in 2018, did not think it necessary to explain the details of the settlement process. “She got money. We don’t plan to go into the process of it,” he said. “I don’t preclude you from that,” Judge Faber responded. “But once you open the door… the people have to have the right to explain how she got the money.” The judge reserved his decision on the matter until next week, when the next pretrial hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Mr. Agnifilo was hopeful that “between now and week” the parties could “work something out.”Attorney Marc Agnifilo arrives for the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sex-trafficking trial at Manhattan federal court on May 21, 2025. Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesEarlier on, Mr. Agnifilo and the lead prosecutor, Nicole Blumberg, had informed the judge that they are family friends. Mr. Agnifilo said when he decided to take on Weinstein’s case he called Ms. Blumberg on the phone to discuss if their years-long friendship would pose a potential conflict of interest. “We socialize together,” Mr. Agnifilo said, “she’s been to my home.” The friendship began about two decades ago and “continues to the present,” he said. Mr. Agnifilo’s wife, Karen Friedman-Agnifilo, held high-ranking positions at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, including serving as Chief Assistant District Attorney from 2014 to 2021.“When you have done something for 36 years you develop all sorts of relationships with all sorts of people,” Mr. Agnifilo said. The judge asked Weinstein, if the friendship between the prosecutor and his defense attorney posed a problem for him. “I have no problem,” Weinstein replied and the judge said he would “allow the representation to continue.” The retrial is scheduled to begin on April 14.

‘She Got Money’: Harvey Weinstein’s Defense Quarrels With Prosecutors on His 74th Birthday Over How To Explain $500,000 Award to Accuser

More from the New York Sun

To Jay Powell: In the Name of God, Go

Clip Farming Their Way Through the ‘Manosphere’: Going Viral for Being Vile

Will Iranian Attacks Against Gulf States Reshape Regional Alliances?

More from the New York Sun

To Jay Powell: In the Name of God, Go

Clip Farming Their Way Through the ‘Manosphere’: Going Viral for Being Vile

Will Iranian Attacks Against Gulf States Reshape Regional Alliances?

Reports That Joe Kent Was Under FBI Probe May Provide New Motive for His Surprise Resignation

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Says She Was Booted From Arkansas Restaurant in Déjà Vu Moment

The Next Fight in the Iran War

‘Stalin Would Be Proud’: Jack Smith Compared to ‘Secret Police’ as More Surveillance of Trump-Supporting Lawmakers Exposed

MS NOW Star Stephanie Ruhle Is Moved to a Lower-Profile Daytime Slot, and Ana Cabrera Is Out in Major Shake-Up