The trial is taking place in a court in Weinstein's old hometown of Los Angeles and it begins almost to the day five years after the revelations that ended his career and became the starting point for the entire metoo movement.
The 70-year-old Weinstein is charged with eleven counts of sexual assault and alleged assaults against five women at various hotels in the Los Angeles area between 2004 and 2013. The first day of the trial is expected to be spent selecting members for the indictment jury.
Weinstein denies the allegations and claims that all sexual contacts took place with the consent of the women.
His lawyers say the allegations date back a long time and cannot be supported by real evidence or credible witnesses.
Convicted of rape
The former movie mogul is already serving a sentence from another trial in New York since 2020 when he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of two women.
He tried in June to have that sentence overturned, and in August an appeals court gave the go-ahead for the case to go to court again next year.
Weinstein is also suspected of sexually assaulting a woman in London in 1996. In total, almost 90 women have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and in some cases rape.