|
Police said the alleged offences had taken
place between March 2005 and April 2013, with four incidents
taking place in the capital and one in Gloucestershire. They
involved one man who is now in his 40s and two men now in their
30s.
"The CPS has authorised criminal charges against Kevin Spacey,
62, for four counts of sexual assault against three men,"
Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said
in a statement.
"The CPS has also authorised one charge of causing a person to
engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. The
authority to charge follows a review of the evidence gathered by
the Metropolitan Police in its investigation."
Spacey will be charged if he is arrested in England or Wales, a
CPS spokesperson said.
Spacey, once one of Hollywood's biggest stars, has largely
disappeared from public view since being accused of sexual
misconduct five years ago.
In November 2017, London's Old Vic theatre said it had received
20 separate allegations of inappropriate conduct by Spacey from
20 men who came into contact with him at the theatre, or in
connection with it, between 1995 and 2013.
He was dropped from the TV show "House of Cards" and removed
from the movie "All the Money in the World" after the
accusations of sexual misconduct came to light.
The 62-year-old, who won Oscars for best actor in "American
Beauty" and best supporting actor in "The Usual Suspects", has
previously denied all accusations of misconduct.
Roberto Cavazos, an actor who worked at the Old Vic, where
Spacey was artistic director between 2004 and 2015, said in 2017
he had encounters with the Hollywood star at the time "that
verged on what you could call harassment".
It is not known if Cavazos is one of the men Spacey has been
charged with assaulting.
Spacey is being sued in the United States by actor Anthony Rapp
who accuses him of sexual assault and battery in the 1980s when
Rapp was about 14.
A judge in Manhattan last year dismissed claims by a second man
who was suing Spacey, after the plaintiff refused to identify
himself publicly.
In 2019, Massachusetts prosecutors dropped a criminal case
accusing Spacey of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man at a
bar three years earlier after the alleged victim refused to
testify.
(This story officially corrects 'charges' to 'authorises
charges' in headline and paragraphs 1 and 4 after official
correction from CPS)
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan and Paul Sandle; Editing by
William James, Michael Holden and Catherine Evans)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
