LA task force to evaluate Hollywood sex claims

Prosecutors in Los Angeles have established a task force to deal with the sprawling allegations of sexual abuse in the entertainment industry.

The city’s district attorney Jackie Lacey announced she had formed a team of specially trained lawyers to evaluate any cases referred to her by police.

It is the latest legal development in a growing scandal which continues to rock Hollywood.

Detectives in the cities of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, along with police in New York and London, are currently investigating serious allegations made by a number of women against the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Last month Weinstein was fired from the company he founded after a number of women went public with allegations of sexual misconduct. Since then, dozens more have made similar accusations against him.

The 65-year-old, once one of the most powerful figures in the movie business, has been ostracised by everyone from the Oscars’ Academy and BAFTA. He has separated from his British wife, Georgina Chapman, and has undergone therapy at a rehab centre in Arizona.

But new claims have continued to surface about other household names in the entertainment industry.

Lacey said: "I have assigned the group of veteran sex crimes prosecutors to work together to ensure a uniformed approach to the legal review and possible prosecution of any case that meets both the legal and factual standards for criminal prosecution."

So far, she said, no cases had been referred by police for "possible criminal filing".

:: Allegations against Harvey Weinstein

Hollywood has been wrestling with how to address the issues arising from the Weinstein scandal and ridding the industry of its "casting couch" culture.

It has also been encouraged to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse by paedophiles working in the entertainment industry.

Earlier this month two former child actors told Sky News of the abuse they suffered and the difficulties they encountered in trying to report it.

But the viral spread of the hashtag ‘MeToo’, started by the actress Alyssa Milano and adopted by hundreds of thousands of women relating their own stories of harassment in all walks of life, has exposed the scale of the problem beyond the entertainment industry.

(c) Sky News 2017: LA task force to evaluate Hollywood sex claims