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Judge rules actor Kevin Spacey must face sexual abuse charges in federal court

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A judge ruled this week that actor Kevin Spacey must face civil charges of sexual abuse in federal court, where he will defend claims that he sexually abused a teenager in the 1980s.

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled on Monday that actor Anthony Rapp may pursue charges against Spacey of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, but due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, he may not pursue sexual assault charges against Spacey. Kaplan ruled there is “a genuine issue of material fact” regarding whether Spacey forcibly touched Rapp’s “private parts.”

According to Rapp, Spacey allegedly groped the then-14 year old’s buttocks at a party at Spacey’s apartment in 1986, before pushing the teenager onto a bed and partially covering the boy’s body with his own. In testimony, according to Kaplan’s ruling, Rapp said there was “no kissing, no undressing, no reaching under clothes, and no sexualized statements or innuendo.”

In 2017, Spacey publicly addressed the allegations, Tweeting, “If I did behave then as he describes, 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 added that he has “a lot of respect and admiration” for Rapp as an actor.

The ruling came just weeks after British authorities announced Spacey is facing four counts of sexually assaulting three different men.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service announced Spacey will also face one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. All the charges stem from five separate incidents that occurred in 2005, 2008, and 2013. While the charges have been formally authorized, they cannot be properly filed until Spacey enters either Wales or England.

ARTICLE: LAURA SPIVAK

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE

PHOTO CREDITS: REUTERS

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