Allegations of teen sex abuse by three Hollywood execs denied

[April 23, 2014]  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — One of three Hollywood executives accused of sexually abusing a teenaged boy in the 1990s on Tuesday flatly denied the allegations, while an attorney for the second said they were "demonstrably untrue" and a representative for the third called them "without merit."

Garth Ancier, Gary Goddard and David Neuman were named in separate lawsuit complaints on Monday of being part of an underage sex ring and performing sexual acts with Michael Egan, 31, who was an aspiring teen actor in Los Angeles at the time.

Eagan filed a similar suit against "X-Men" movie director Bryan Singer on April 16.

"All of the allegations made by the plaintiff against Garth Ancier are demonstrably untrue, and we are confident the courts will agree when the evidence is presented," Ancier's attorney, Louise Ann Fernandez, said in an emailed statement.

"As just one of many examples," Fernandez wrote, "Mr. Ancier has never even visited the estate in Hawaii where the plaintiff claims to have encountered him."

On his Twitter page, David Neuman said that the charges are "whole-cloth lies with zero basis in reality or truth. Sickening and very evil, for anyone to lie like that, let alone in a legal document."

On Monday, a representative for Goddard said he was out of the country. Goddard will "review the complaint and respond appropriately. Based on what we understand the allegations to be, the complaint is without merit," the representative said.

Ancier, 56, previously held roles as a top programmer at Fox and NBC, rising to become president of NBC Entertainment, according to film website IMDB.com.

Goddard, 59, heads The Goddard Group that created attractions at theme parks including Comcast's Universal Studios, according to the company website.

Neuman was formerly the president of Walt Disney Co's TV unit and chief programming officer at Time Warner's CNN, according to LinkedIn, and is the president and executive producer of Blackrock Productions.

(Reporting by Ronald Grover; editing by Eric Walsh)

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