Variety reports that producer/director Bryan Singer, who was one of the earliest people to be called out for his alleged vile behavior by the #MeToo movement, is now paying $150,000 to resolve allegations that he raped a 17-year-old boy in 2003.
The accuser, Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, filed his lawsuit against Singer back in December 2017, in which he alleged that the director had sexually assaulted him during a yacht party in Seattle. Sanchez-Guzman claimed that Singer “lured Cesar into a room, shut the door and demanded that Cesar perform oral sex. When [Sanchez-Guzman] refused, Bryan Singer forced him into acts of oral and anal sex.” Singer has denied the allegations.
Sanchez-Guzman’s accusation is only one of the many against the director. In the March 2019 issue of The Atlantic, a profile was published with information from more than 50 sources, including four separate men who have alleged that Singer had sex with them when they were underage and the director was in his 30s. For a long time, rumors about Singer’s sexual misconduct have been going around, but the #MeToo movement truly brought them into the spotlight. He was fired from his directing duties on—and had his producer credit stripped from—the Oscar-winning Bohemian Rhapsody and the upcoming Red Sonja movie.
What makes this even more complicated is that Sanchez-Guzman filed for bankruptcy in 2014, and bankruptcy trustee Nancy James reopened the case in 2018 on the grounds that “Sanchez-Guzman’s claim against Singer had not been listed among his assets, and that any proceeds should be available to his creditors.” James has, therefore, been involved in the case and reached her own settlement agreement with Singer’s attorneys.
Singer’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, said that the director maintains his innocence and says,
The debtor filed a claim against Mr. Singer that he had no basis or legal right to file. Mr. Singer has denied even knowing this individual, let alone allegedly having interacted with him more than 15 years ago. The decision to resolve the matter with the bankruptcy trustee was purely a business one, as litigation costs would well exceed the amount requested by the trustee to pay off the creditors who were owed money when the debtor filed for bankruptcy.
If the settlement is approved, Sanchez-Guzman’s lawsuit will be dismissed with prejudice, and $61,000 would go to creditors. Variety says the bulk of those claims represent student loan debt, and Sanchez-Guzman will get $150,000.
If the case is dismissed with prejudice, that means it’s dismissed permanently and that Sanchez-Guzman can never sue Singer for this again.
(via Jezebel, image: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images)
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