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US prosecutors probe new sex assault claims against Kevin Spacey

Thursday, 23 August 2018 1:20 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 23 August 2018 6:22 PM ]

In this AFP file photo taken on June 11, 2017, US actor Kevin Spacey attends the 2017 Tony Awards in New York City.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles, California, say they are reviewing a second sexual assault case involving Oscar-winning US actor Kevin Spacey.

“A sex assault case was presented yesterday to our office by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department involving Kevin Spacey. It remains under review,” Los Angeles District Attorney spokesman Greg Risling said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said in April that it was reviewing a case involving Spacey dating from 1992, involving an adult male.

A district attorney in the US is the chief prosecutor for a local government area, typically a county.

Last October, Spacey publicly acknowledged for the first time that he was homosexual. He won an Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, for best actor in 2000 for starring in the 1999 film “American Beauty,”

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More than 30 men have said they were victims of unwanted sexual advances by Spacey, who became embroiled in controversy last year when actor Anthony Rapp accused him of trying to seduce him in 1986 when Rapp was 14.

In October, Spacey apologized for any inappropriate conduct with Rapp but has not commented since.

The fallout resulted in Spacey being dropped from the final season of the Netflix series “House of Cards” and erased from the 2017 movie “All the Money in the World.” In January, Netflix also reported a $39 million write-off on Spacey-related projects.

Spacey is also being investigated by British police over sexual assault allegations brought by several men in the UK. London’s Old Vic theater, where Spacey served as artistic director for 12 years, said last year that it received 20 accusations of inappropriate conduct by Spacey between 1995 and 2013.

Spacey is one of dozens of men in the US entertainment industry and politics who have been accused of sexual misconduct in the past 10 months, partly as a result of the #MeToo social media movement.

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