Weinstein, 74, forcibly performed oral sex in 2006 on Miriam Haley, one of dozens of women who have made accusations against the “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love” producer.
Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in 2020 for the sexual assault, but it was overturned on appeal in 2024. A jury found him guilty again in 2025 after a retrial in New York.
He made a last-ditch plea for leniency on Wednesday as he addressed a packed Manhattan courthouse, where Haley sat in the audience.
“I am not a violent man, have some mercy,” said Weinstein, who wore a dark suit with a red tie and sat in a wheelchair due to health issues.
“I sincerely apologise to anyone I have hurt,” he added.
Judge Curtis Farber slammed Weinstein as a “sexual predator” who had failed to take responsibility for his actions.
“You had it all. Your legacy could have been cemented with greatness. But you threw it all away by assaulting Miriam Haley,” Farber said.
Prosecutors had sought 20 years in prison for Weinstein, while his lawyers warned that a longer sentence would likely see him die in prison.
Haley said after the hearing that she believed the 15-year prison term “was fair, in my opinion. So I’m happy with it.”
She earlier told the court that she had suffered a “life sentence” and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after Weinstein assaulted her in New York.
She said that Weinstein “abused his position of power” and that she “felt embarrassed that he thought I was so insignificant that he dared to do something like this.”
Weinstein once ruled Hollywood as a kingpin powerful enough to make or break projects and careers.
But investigations by The New Yorker and The New York Times exposed a raft of abusive behaviour and prompted an avalanche of allegations from more than 80 people.
Weinstein is also to be resentenced in California for the 2013 rape and assault of an actress in a Los Angeles hotel room, after an appeals court in June upheld the conviction but vacated his 16-year prison term.
Meanwhile, a New York judge in May declared a mistrial in a separate case after jurors failed to reach a verdict on allegations he sexually assaulted actor Jessica Mann.
It was the third time Mann had taken the stand against Weinstein after a 2020 guilty verdict was overturned due to mishandling of witnesses, and a 2025 case ended in mistrial after a jury-room feud.
Prosecutors later said they would not pursue a fourth trial in Mann’s case.
Weinstein underwent a spectacular fall from his position astride the world of show business when the first allegations against him exploded into public view.
The ensuing furore snowballed into the global #MeToo movement and a reckoning that rocked the world of entertainment, with multiple men called to account for abusing their positions to exploit young women in the industry. (AFP)
