Money and the right advice can mitigate a lot of consequences. Weigh the risks against the assets and the court is only where the fight to protect wealthy clients starts.
Harvey Weinstein is reportedly getting bored in the hospital but it’s a lot better than jail, a full week after a guilty verdict exposes him to up to 29 years in jail.
A previously undisclosed heart condition triggered chest pains right after the jury convicted him of two sexual felonies. The mogul went straight to Bellevue instead of Rikers ahead of his sentencing on March 11.
Conditions in the hospital aren’t bad. He’s doing a lot of recreational reading, seeing friends and has a private room.
If his handlers haven’t been deliberately staging his medical drama to wring a better outcome out of the circumstances, now is a great time to start. Anything else amounts to professional malpractice.
Sick trumps guilty
Before the allegations stacked up, Weinstein’s only known health problems were extra weight and adult-onset diabetes. Smoking and a terrible diet aggravated the situation but remained behind the scenes.
It turns out that he has diabetic eye disease requiring regular injections. We didn’t know that until the trial.
And although Weinstein apparently walked away from a car accident back in August, his lawyers have asserted that he ended up with a concussion and needed back surgery.
The surgery led to a walker and now a wheelchair. Maybe it’s stress, but even sympathetic medical experts said back in December that he should have been walking again by now.
Add the undisclosed high blood pressure that led to chest pains last week, and at 67, he’s a mess. Either way, the doctors’ notes contain observations that the lawyers can use to sway public and judicial opinion.
The sicker he looks, the more ammunition they get to keep him out of jail.
He’s come down far in the world but still easily has $30 million to play with. The court hasn’t taken that money away and it can buy a whole lot of medical opinions.
It’s in his interest to buy evidence of a heart condition. At his age, statistically he has about 2 years to live after his first coronary event.
That counts as a terminal disease in New York State, a near-term death sentence. Medical parole can limit his actual jail time to months, if he serves at all.
And if heart disease isn’t enough to convince the boards, blind and bedridden qualifies as a debilitating medical condition.
As long as Weinstein is in bed 50% of the time, New York will consider a petition to stay home. They don’t want to spend money on his care when it’s unlikely he’ll ever commit similar crimes again.
Of course the system is backed up. Most people who get sick in prison end up dying before release, but Weinstein's money can take him to the front of the line.
Is he really sick? Realistically, it doesn't matter.
His money exists to cushion the consequences. It pays for expert opinion and sophisticated planning.
When he was on the top of the world, it covered up his indiscretions and ensured the silence of his victims.
Apparently it wasn't enough. We'll see whether the medical opinions keep him out of jail now.
And it's always going to be a tradeoff between health, wealth and freedom. Whether he's deliberately letting his health slide or not, his lifespan is getting narrower.
He isn't making great choices. The stress on his system is a lot higher than it was a few years ago. The leg brace and lack of exercise feeds on itself.
He's got to be depressed as well, which might have had something to do with the car crash.
Will he evade prison? Probably. Will he have a rich and rewarding life of freedom? Probably not.
His handlers are choosing to allocate his resources. Other clients in other situations might choose differently . . . but then again, they probably wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.
