NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Harvey Weinstein is suing the City of New York and its Department of Correction over claims of “medical negligence” during his stay at Rikers Island, where he is awaiting retrial on sex crimes charges in Manhattan, according to his attorney.
“Harvey Weinstein has suffered considerably from the deplorable conditions on Rikers Island,” Weinstein’s lawyer Imran H. Ansari said in a statement to 1010 WINS. “Most significantly, the system has failed him in providing him the most basic medical care. But he needs more than basic care, he needs the intensive medical treatment that one would be afforded in any civilized society—prisoner or not.”
Weinstein has been remanded to Rikers Island jail complex ahead of his 2025 retrial on two sex crimes charges after New York’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction for rape and sexual assault. He had been sentenced to 23 years in prison for that conviction, and was hit with a new charge accusing him of another assault in September.
The 72-year-old ex-movie mogul had to be rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue from Rikers Island and underwent emergency surgery to remove fluid from his heart late in the night on Sept. 9, and has faced numerous health complications before and after the procedure.
Weinstein’s legal team has argued—thus far unsuccessfully—that he should be kept at a hospital as opposed to Rikers Island.
Ansari alleges that Weinstein “remains without critical medication, adequate treatment by competent physicians for complex and serious medical conditions, and is deprived of even the most elemental humane treatment.”
When he last visited his client, Ansari claims he found Weinstein dressed in blood-spattered prison garb that had not been washed for weeks, and that he had not even been provided with clean underwear.
“Hardly sanitary conditions for someone with severe medical conditions and susceptibility to illness,” Ansari said. “I questioned whether I was in a prison facility that is supposed to be managed in accordance with our constitution, or a gulag where the prisoners are treated like animals.”
The claim, reviewed by 1010 WINS, states that Weinstein is seeking monetary damages for negligence allegedly committed by employees with the NYC DOC, NYC Health & Hospitals Corporation, Rikers Island Correctional Facility and New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation/Bellevue.
It alleges that Weinstein—who is diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, diabetes, coronary artery disease, obstructive sleep apnea, thyroid issues, obesity, high blood pressure, chronic back pain with surgery, remote gastric sleeve, lap band surgery and other medical conditions—suffered from their lack of action.
The claim alleges that “due to the Respondents’ negligence” Weinstein’s white blood cell count and thyroid conditions were mismanaged, he contracted pneumonia and COVID-19, and severe fluid retention was not handled, leading to life-threatening buildup, emergency heart procedures and months without cancer medication.
“While in the custody of Rikers Island Correctional Facility, the Claimant’s medical conditions deteriorated significantly, unreasonably, and dangerously, leading to multiple instances where the Claimant feared for his life,” the claim reads.
The claim is seeking not less than $5 million.
“The treatment, or lack thereof, that Mr. Weinstein is receiving on Rikers Island does not only amount to medical negligence, it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment," Ansari said. "We don’t live in a country where a prisoner such as Mr. Weinstein must endure such harsh and draconian treatment, and disregard to his medical needs, without recourse under the law.”
The NYC Department of Correction did not respond to 1010 WINS’ request for comment Tuesday night.