Harvey Weinstein. Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

As news about former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual assaults against women began to pour out in October 2017, he exchanged emails with members of his team, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said in court Friday.

One email said that journalist Ronan Farrow was about to report an accusation from actress Annabella Sciorra, according to the document Illuzzi-Orbon showed jurors.

"This is untrue he is the one who writes lies … Get emails … this was consensual or deny it," Weinstein wrote on Oct. 26, 2017, in an unpunctuated email.

Illuzzi-Orbon told jurors during her closing statement that the email amounts to "a confession."

"'Consensual' and 'deny it' are the polar opposites of each other!" she said.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to predatory sexual assault, rape and criminal sex act. Sciorra's accusation that Weinstein raped her in her New York apartment in the early 1990s is part of the predatory sexual assault charge.

During three weeks of testimony, five more women also said Weinstein assaulted them. In her closing argument Thursday, defense attorney Donna Rotunno argued that the women engaged in sexual activity with Weinstein because they wanted to advance their own careers in Hollywood or otherwise enjoy access to Weinstein's wealth and power.

Illuzzi-Orbon told jurors Friday that in order for that scenario to be consensual, both parties would have to know about the alleged transaction beforehand.

That wasn't the case with Weinstein, Illuzzi-Orbon said, arguing that the women were "tricked and surprised" by sudden sexual aggression from Weinstein, often while they thought they were meeting him for professional reasons.

"There are no blurred lines here," she said. "This is a crime. And a wanton disregard for other people."

Rotunno repeatedly pointed out inconsistencies between the alleged victims' accounts and the testimony of their friends and associates, but Illuzzi-Orbon urged jurors to see those gaps as a "hallmark of truth" and a sign that each witness was remembering what happened to the best of their ability.

Illuzzi-Orbon urged jurors to take seriously the account of Jessica Mann, who testified that Weinstein raped her in a New York hotel room in March 2013. Mann also testified that after Weinstein first assaulted her in Los Angeles, she felt like her best option was to enter a relationship with him.

Even if an accuser had a personal relationship with Weinstein, the Manhattan assistant DA said, his sudden sexual aggression still amounted to sexual assault or rape.

Jurors might not have made that choice and might not think it was a good one, Illuzzi-Orbon said. But she said Weinstein's legal position would be the same even if Mann had been madly in love with Weinstein or even married to him.

"If all that were true … he still wouldn't be allowed to rape her on March 18, 2013," Illuzzi-Orbon said.

Asked about that argument outside court, Rotunno said Mann's actions after the alleged attacks must be examined.

"It belies common sense that [an alleged victim] would then go out and send emails, have the contact, continue a relationship, send your phone number … that is consent," she said. "The evidence shows consent."

In contrast, Illuzzi-Orbon cited the testimony of the prosecution's expert witness, psychiatrist Barbara Ziv, who said people often stay in contact with an alleged rapist because they want to try to move on from the attack and are often afraid of what will happen if they shut the attacker out.

Illuzzi-Orbon said Weinstein used a similar pattern with many alleged victims.

"He made sure he had contact with the people he was worried about as a little check to make sure that one day, they wouldn't walk out from the shadows and call him exactly what he was: an abusive rapist," she said. "He was wrong."

During her closing argument, Illuzzi-Orbon repeatedly referenced the testimony of Lance Maerov, a former board member of the production firm The Weinstein Co. who was the prosecution's first witness.

Maerov, a middle-aged businessman, seemed to have little in common with the alleged victims. But Illuzzi-Orbon turned to his testimony for proof that the women's descriptions of Weinstein were accurate.

"His public persona was diametrically proposed to who he was in person," Maerov said on the witness stand. He also said Weinstein liked to threaten people, including Maerov himself, with lawsuits.

In front of a crowded courtroom that included Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and one of the authors of the New York Times article on Weinstein's alleged offenses that sparked the flood of allegations, Illuzzi-Orbon ended her argument by praising the victims.

"They didn't come for a beauty contest, they didn't come for money, they didn't come for fame," she said. "They sacrificed their dignity, their privacy and their peace for the chance of having [a] voice."

The jury is expected to begin deliberations Tuesday.

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