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The
notice of claim, which is the first step in filing a lawsuit
against the city, accuses the facility of failing to manage the
former movie mogul's medical conditions, which include chronic
myeloid leukemia and diabetes, and negligence ranging from
“freezing” conditions to a lack of clean clothes.
The city's law department and Department of Correction did not
immediately respond to requests for comment.
“When I last visited him, I found him with blood spatter on his
prison garb, possibly from IV’s, clothes that had not been
washed for weeks, and he had not even been provided clean
underwear – hardly sanitary conditions for someone with severe
medical conditions,” Weinstein's attorney, Imran H. Ansari, said
in a statement, comparing the facility to a “gulag."
Weinstein, 72, has been in city custody since earlier this year,
after the New York Court of Appeals overturned his 2020 rape
conviction in the state. The case is set to be retried in 2025.
Weinstein has denied any wrongdoing.
Weinstein was briefly hospitalized in April and again in July
for health problems. His team has said he's been treated for
diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis, COVID-19, and
fluid on his heart and lungs.
The legal claim, which seeks $5 million in damages, argues he’d
been returned to Rikers each time before he had fully recovered.
Weinstein's film production company went into bankruptcy
proceedings after his convictions, setting up a $17 million fund
for a sexual misconduct claims fund.
The Rikers Island jail is slated to be closed in 2027, but the
city has pushed back deadlines to do so.
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