American actor Kevin Spacey has been charged with four sexual assaults against three men in the UK, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced on Thursday (May 26th). By this procedure, equivalent to the indictment in France, the British prosecution thus authorizes criminal proceedings against the former star of the series House of Cards.
“He was also charged with causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without their consent”said Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS’s Special Crimes Division in a statement. She also clarified that these charges were “following a review of the evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police in their investigation”.
The charges cover a period from March 2005 to April 2013. Two charges relate to sexual assaults allegedly committed in March 2005 in London on the same complainant. Another sexual assault allegedly took place in August 2008 on a second complainant.
Finally, Kevin Spacey is charged with a fourth sexual assault on a third complainant in April 2013 in Gloucestershire (south-west England).
Complaints related to his time running the Old Vic Theater
London police had opened an investigation after receiving complaints of sexual assaults against the actor, some of which were allegedly committed in the Lambeth district of London, where the Old Vic theater is located, of which Kevin Spacey was artistic director between 2004 and 2015.
Following the first accusations, in 2017, the one who was awarded twice at the Oscars for his roles in Usual Suspects (1995) and American Beauty (1999) – where he excelled in the handling of a subtle ambiguity – had been landed by Netflix from House of Cards, which he played the leading role. The actor was also erased from Ridley Scott’s latest film, All the money in the world ; the scenes in which he played were shot again in extremis by Christopher Plummer. In the sixth and final season of House of Cardsreleased in November 2018, his character, Frank Underwood, was gone.