Harvey Weinstein‘s defence lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, has made a decision to withdraw from the case on Tuesday.
The move followed an exclusive The Post report on Monday which revealed Weinstein and Brafman was on the brink of parting ways because the disgraced movie mogul wanted to expand his defence team after Brafman failed to get the rape and sexual assault charges against Weinstein thrown out.
READ: Trial Judge Refuses To Dismiss Charges Against Powerful Hollywood Mogul Harvey Weinstein
Now Weinstein has a race against time to replace Brafman ahead of his sex-assault trial scheduled to begin on May 6 at the Manhattan Supreme Court.
Sources close to Weinstein said he wants an “older woman” on his defence team and has reached out to lawyers Susan Necheles and Isabelle Kirshner.
The former Hollywood powerful man also wants to hire former Manhattan sex-crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein as a trial consultant, the sources said.
Weinstein faces allegations of forcibly performing oral sex on production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping a longtime lover in a Manhattan hotel in 2013. He has however maintained that he is innocent