Disgraced Academy Award-winner kevin spacey has been charged with four counts of sexual assault against three menEngland’s Crown Prosecution Service announced Thursday.
Spacey, 62, faces a total of five charges for incidents that allegedly happened between 2005 and 2013, including causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
One complainant alleged two incidents of sexual assault in March 2005 in London. The second complainant alleged sexual assault and penetrative sexual activity without consent in August 2008 in London. The third alleged sexual assault in April 2013 in Gloucestershire, England.
USA TODAY has reached out to Spacey’s lawyer for comment.
“The charges follow a review of the evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police in its investigation,” Rosemary Ainslie, Head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said in a statement. “The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Mr. Spacey are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.”
Spacey was questioned by British police in 2019 about claims by several men that he had assaulted them. The former “House of Cards” starred in London’s Old Vic Theater between 2004 and 2015.
More than a dozen men and teen boys accused Spacey of sexual harassment and assault in 2017, after which the eleven-revered actor’s career came to a halt. Spacey was fired from his starring role in the final season of Netflix political drama series “House of Cards” and his last role was in 2018’s biodrama “Billionaire Boys Club.”
“Rent” and “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp was among the accusers. He told BuzzFeed in 2017 that he was 14 when he attended a party at Spacey’s apartment, where he said an inebriated Spacey made sexual advances. Last month, Spacey asked a judge to throw out Rapp’s sex abuse lawsuitsaying through his lawyers that the allegations are false.
More:Kevin Spacey requests dismissal of Anthony Rapp’s sex abuse lawsuit, cites lack of evidence
In October 2017, Spacey issued a statement on Twitter saying he didn’t remember the encounter but apologized. In the process, he came out as a gay man, sparking criticism he was trying to distract attention from Rapp’s accusations.
“I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years,” Spacey wrote.
A criminal case brought against him ended in 2019, when prosecutors in Nantucket, Massachusetts, announced they would drop the charge that Spacey sexually assaulted a teen bus boy at an island bar in the summer of 2016, “due to the unavailability of the complaining witness .”
Since 2017, he has mostly kept a low profile, occasionally releasing videos and interviews. In one video in 2018, he appeared to criticize the Me Too movement while in character as Frank Underwood, his “House of Cards” character. In a 2020 interview on the Bits & Pretzels podcast, I equated his downfall from sexual misconduct allegations to the struggles of those losing their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Previously:Kevin Spacey lands first acting role since 2017 sexual assault accusations
A year ago, Spacey landed his first role since being accused of sexual misconduct: He is set to appear in director Franco Nero’s upcoming Italian film, “L’uomo Che Disegnò Dio,” opposite Nero’s wife, Vanessa Redgrave, ABC and CNN reported at the time.
“I’m very happy Kevin agreed to participate in my film,” Nero told ABC. “I consider him a great actor and I can’t wait to start the movie.”
Contributing: Maria Puente and The Associated Press
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism