In 2018, a criminal charge against Spacey was dropped in Massachusetts after the alleged victim refused to testify and also withdrew a civil lawsuit. Spacey pled not guilty before the criminal case was dropped. In the same year he escaped a potential criminal charge in Los Angeles after prosecutors said the alleged incident was time-barred under California’s statute of limitations.
And in 2019 a civil suit against the actor alleging sexual assault was also dismissed after the plaintiff died. The death also meant Spacey sidestepped criminal charges, according to the Los Angeles Times, after 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 claim related to his time on “House of Cards.” Spacey was fired from the former flagship Netflix show following Rapp’s allegations. In 2020, MRC, which produced the show, won an arbitration ruling saying the actor owed them $31 million in lost profits as a consequence of Spacey’s removal from the show, writes Variety (Variety’s owner, Penske Media, owns a joint venture with Media Rights Capital called PMRC).
In January this year, Spacey attempted to block the arbitration award by filing a request in civil court for a judge to set aside the arbitration ruling.
It is unclear whether Spacey will submit himself to the authorities in London following the charges. His whereabouts in recent years have been something of a mystery, although in 2019 he was formally interviewed as a suspect by the Metropolitan police in the U.S., according to the Daily Mail. In August 2019, he unexpectedly turned up 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 “L’umo Che Disegno Dio” (The Man Who Drew God), from Italian director Franco Nero.
Earlier this month, Spacey appeared to be attempting a comeback after two films starring the actor — “Peter Five Eight” and “Gateway to the West” — were shopped around at Cannes. It’s likely any comeback will now be put on hold as he turns his attention to his latest legal battle.
