Harvey Weinstein has issued an apology months after he was reportedly caught with contraband candy in jail.
The disgraced movie mogul, who is currently being held at the medical wing of a Los Angeles jail while he awaits trial for rape and sexual assault, was found in possession of Milk Duds late last year, according to Variety. The outlet, citing jail records, reports that the chocolates were discovered during a search on Nov. 10, 2021, following Weinstein's in-person meeting with one of his attorneys, Shawn Burkley.
In a statement provided to E! News on March 3, the 69-year-old producer said, "This was an innocent misunderstanding. It will not happen again. I have been a model inmate, following the rules and regulations and I am sincerely sorry."
Weinstein's other attorneys, Mark Werksman and Alan Jackson, also apologized, telling E! News in a separate statement, "We have been informed about this and are very sorry if indeed it did."
The legal team said they "had not heard that it happened prior, nor that anything happened since," adding that Weinstein "has been a model inmate and intends to continue as such."
Per Variety, Weinstein previously told officials that he brought the Milk Duds with him in July, when he was extradited from New York—where is serving a 23-year prison sentence—to L.A. for the trial. However, according to the outlet, guards had search him upon his arrival to jail and did not find any contraband candy at the time.
It's unclear how Weinstein came into possession of the Milk Duds. E! News reached out to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, who oversees the jail, for confirmation of the alleged incident, but hasn't heard back.
Last year, Weinstein was indicted by a grand jury in L.A. on criminal charges after he was accused of sexually assaulting five women in separate incidents across a span of nearly a decade. The indictment was unsealed in July 21, 2021, when he pleaded not guilty to four counts each of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation, two counts of sexual battery by restraint and one count of sexual penetration by use of force.
The plea came a year after a jury in New York convicted Weinstein of rape in the third degree and criminal sexual act in the first degree on Feb. 24, 2020. He was found not guilty on two counts of predatory sexual assault and one count of rape in the first degree.
Since the New York conviction, Weinstein has filed an appeal, alleging that he was denied his constitutional right to receive a fair trial with an impartial jury. In a filing obtained by E! News in April, attorneys for Weinstein claimed that he was tried in a "highly volatile and prejudicial atmosphere."
"Mr. Weinstein was tried in a venue, the atmosphere of which was permeated with negative publicity about him and his alleged relationships with women," the documents read. "Once the trial commenced, it was clear that the jury would be facing a daily barrage of improper influence and outright intimidation."
A ruling on the appeal has yet to be made.