Kevin Spacey has been charged with four counts of sexual assault in the UK

Kevin Spacey He was charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of “causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without their consent.”

The decision was unveiled today by the UK’s Public Prosecution Agency (CPS), which has spent more than a year reviewing a file passed to it by the Metropolitan Police.

“The Public Security Protection Service has cleared criminal charges against Kevin Spacey, 62, for four counts of sexual assault against three men,” said Rosemary Ainsley, CPS’s chief of special crimes.

“He has also been charged with causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without their consent. The charges come after a review of evidence collected by the Metropolitan Police in their investigation”

“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.”

At least some of the charges are believed to stem from Spacey’s time at London’s Old Vic Theatre, where he served as artistic director from 2004 to 2015. After a series of sexual assault allegations against the actor in the United States, the theater launched an internal investigation that resulted, according to the BBC, About 20 victims who claimed he acted inappropriately towards them.

The charges announced today are the latest in a series of civil and criminal legal battles that Spacey has been fighting since allegations of sexual assault and misconduct were first revealed in 2017 by “Rent” and “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony. rap. Rap told Buzzfeed News that when he was 14, he made a non-consensual sexual advance towards him at a party.

Spacey, who has denied Rappe’s allegations, is still involved in a civil lawsuit over the allegations after Rapp sued him in New York for sexual assault. Last month, Spacey reportedly submitted a paper requesting that the case be dismissed. Raab’s co-plaintiff, known only as CD, who also alleged that Spacey abused him as a teenager, was dropped from the lawsuit last June after refusing to reveal his identity to the court.

In 2018, a criminal charge against Spacey in Massachusetts was dropped after the alleged victim refused to testify and also withdrew a civil lawsuit. Spacey pleaded not guilty before the criminal case was dropped. That same year, he escaped a possible criminal charge in Los Angeles after prosecutors said the alleged incident had a statute of limitations under California’s statute of limitations.

In 2019, a civil lawsuit against the actor alleging sexual assault was also dismissed following the death of the plaintiff. According to the Los Angeles Times, the death also means Spacey has avoided criminal charges, after the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office told the newspaper they would not pursue the case.

Spacey also continues to fight a $31 million arbitration lawsuit related to his time on “House of Cards.” Spacey has been fired from the former Netflix flagship after the rap allegations. In 2020, MRC, which produced the show, won an arbitration ruling saying the actor owed them $31 million in lost earnings as a result of Spacey’s removal from the show. (diverseIts owner, Penske Media, owns a joint venture with Media Rights Capital called PMRC).

In January of this year, Spacey tried to prevent the arbitral award By submitting an application in the civil court to the judge to set aside the arbitral award.

It is unclear whether Spacey will present himself to authorities in London after the charges against him. His whereabouts in recent years have been a mystery although in 2019 he was officially questioned as a suspect by the Metropolitan Police in the United States, according to the Daily Mail. In August 2019, he unexpectedly appeared to give a poetry reading at a museum in Rome. Two years later, he was cast in his first project since his dismissal from “House of Cards”, a supporting role in “Lumo Che Disegno Dio” (The Man Who Directed God) by Italian director Franco Nero.

Earlier this month, Spacey appeared to be trying to make a comeback after marketing two films starring the actor at Cannes: “Peter Five Eight” and “Gateway To The West”. Any comeback is now likely to be put on hold as he turns his attention to his latest legal battle.