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Peter Foley/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is grappling with failing health and cannot physically make the journey to another state, his lawyers claim, amid an ongoing battle to extradite him to Los Angeles to face additional sexual assault charges.

TMZ reports that Weinstein’s legal team claimed at an extradition hearing that the 69-year-old producer is too ill to be taken from his New York maximum security prison.

His attorneys, Mark Werksman and Norman Effman, argue their client needs to remain in New York for “humanitarian” reasons.

Of the reasons provided, the two claim Weinstein has lost his vision and lost four teeth, with more in danger of falling out. They also insist that two medical procedures have been scheduled to help alleviate Weinstein’s pain.

These issues, Werksman and Effman claim, volley off the producer’s other ailments that include diabetes, back pain, cardiac complications and sleep apnea.

In light of Weinstein’s deteriorating health, the lawyers are making the case for him to stay on the East Coast and serve out the remainder of his sentence at Wende Correctional Facility.

Another hearing regarding the extradition is set for next month.

As previously reported, Weinstein was sentenced last year to 20 years for criminal sexual assault — of which his term was ordered to run consecutively with a three-year sentence for the third-degree rape.

Weinstein faces additional charges of rape and forcible oral copulation involving the two women.

Overall, Weinstein is staring down 11 sexual assault counts involving five women in California, which could add an additional 140 years to life in state prison, on top of his 23-year sentence.

 

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