Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein may be sentenced in New York on 30 September, depending on whether prosecutors move ahead with a retrial over an unresolved rape allegation.

Judge Curtis Farber told a Manhattan court on Wednesday that sentencing on Weinstein’s June conviction for a criminal sex act could proceed next month only if there is no retrial on the 2013 rape charge involving Jessica Mann, a hairstylist and actor. The previous jury was unable to reach a verdict on that count.

Prosecutors have said they are prepared to try the unresolved charge again, with Mann willing to testify. They initially requested a January 2026 trial date, citing scheduling constraints, but Farber pushed for an earlier start, suggesting this autumn.

“The case needs to be tried this year,” Farber said in court. Defence lawyer Arthur Aidala supported holding the retrial as soon as possible.

Any conviction on the rape charge would carry a maximum penalty of four years in prison, less than the time Weinstein has already served.

If held this autumn, the trial would coincide with the closing weeks of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s re-election campaign. Bragg, a Democrat serving his first term, has made prosecuting sex crimes a central priority and has said Mann “deserves” a verdict.

Previously Weinstein, 73, was found guilty in June of sexually assaulting TV and film production assistant and producer Miriam Haley in 2006, an offence carrying a maximum sentence of 25 years. The same jury acquitted him of a separate sexual assault allegation involving former model Kaja Sokola.

Weinstein is already serving a sentence in California after being convicted there of sex crimes in 2022, a decision he is appealing. He denies all allegations of non-consensual sexual activity.

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