The Franco-Polish director Roman Polanskiwho fled the United States decades ago after admitting to raping a 13-year-old girl, will no longer face trial for a alleged assault on another teenager in the 70s after reaching an agreement, his lawyer reported this Tuesday.
The latest accusation against the director of The pianistwhich referred to an alleged rape in 1973, was due to appear before a civil court in Los Angeles next August, but has been withdrawn, Polanski’s lawyer in the United States told AFP.
The case was “resolved in the summer to the mutual satisfaction of the parties and has now been formally dismissed”Alexander Rufus-Isaacs said in an email.
The lawsuit, filed last year, alleged that Polanski had taken a teenage girl, confidentially named Jane Doe, to dinner at a Los Angeles restaurant in 1973.
He allegedly gave her tequila and, when the minor began to feel dizzy, he took her to his house, where he forced himself on her.
“She told him, ‘Please don’t do this,'” the plaintiff’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, told reporters in March.
“She alleges that he ignored her pleas. He also alleges that defendant Polanski removed the plaintiff’s clothes and proceeded to sexually assault hercausing tremendous physical and emotional pain and suffering,” he concluded.
The civil suit, which sought unspecified damages, was filed in June 2023, just before a California law allowing extensions of the deadline for filing legal action against alleged perpetrators of sex crimes expired.
Court documents filed in California in July said a “conditional” settlement had been reached.
The plaintiff’s lawyer did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
Roman Polanski, a fugitive from US justice
Oscar winner Polanski, 91, is a controversial figure: some in the film world praise his creative genius, while others insist that he was always a sexual predator.
Polanski admitted in 1977 to having raped Samantha Geimer13, in a plea deal to avoid a trial on more serious charges.
But he fled to France the following year, after spending 42 days in jail, when it seemed a judge would reconsider his release.
Geimer has subsequently defended Polanskiand last year she was photographed with him.
In May, a French court acquitted Polanski of defaming the British actress Charlotte Lewisafter she accused him of having raped her when she was a teenager.
The director has always denied having committed any crime.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
