Kevin Spacey's legal woes are not over, despite the collapse of the only criminal case brought against the two-time Oscar winner since he became mired in sexual misconduct allegations.
The former "House of Cards" star is still being investigated in London and Los Angeles over several allegations and faces a federal lawsuit alleging he assaulted a massage therapist.
"Just because this case may have fallen apart, that does not necessarily hamper another investigation or another prosecution," said Adam Citron, a former prosecutor who now works as a criminal defense attorney in New York.
Prosecutors in Massachusetts announced Wednesday that they were dropping the indecent assault and battery charge brought last year against Spacey, who was accused of groping an 18-year-old man at a bar on the resort island of Nantucket in 2016.
The case unraveled after the accuser invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify about text messages from the night of the alleged groping that the defense claimed were deleted.
In Britain, the Metropolitan Police are investigating six claims of sexual assault and assault against Spacey, who ran London's Old Vic Theatre between 2004 and 2015. British police traveled to the U.S. in May to interview Spacey about sexual assault allegations, Variety reported.
Without naming Spacey, the London force told The Associated Press this month that "a man was voluntarily interviewed under caution in America by officers from the Met's Complex Case Team. He was not arrested. Inquiries are ongoing." ''Under caution" means the interview was recorded and can be used in future prosecutions. British police don't identify suspects until they have been charged.
Los Angeles County prosecutors said last year that they were investigating allegations of a 2016 sexual assault by Spacey for possible criminal charges. A Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman confirmed Thursday that it "has a case under review," but would not say whether it involves the same 2016 incident.
Prosecutors there declined last year to file charges over a 1992 allegation because the statute of limitations had run out.
Spacey is also fighting a federal lawsuit in California filed by a massage therapist, who says Spacey groped him, tried to kiss him and forced him to grab Spacey's genitals.
In the Nantucket case, Spacey's lawyers had argued that the two engaged in nothing more than "consensual flirtation" and that the texts would support Spacey's claims of innocence. An attorney for the actor didn't return messages Wednesday and Thursday.
The charge was dropped less than two weeks after the man voluntarily dismissed a lawsuit against Spacey because, the accuser's lawyer said, he was emotionally overwhelmed and wanted to focus on the criminal case.
The groping allegation was first brought in 2017, days after Spacey's first accuser, actor Anthony Rapp, said Spacey climbed on top of him on a bed when Rapp was 14 and Spacey 26. Spacey said he did not remember such an encounter with Rapp but apologized if the allegations were true. Spacey also used the statement to disclose he is gay.
A slew of other accusations followed, leading to Spacey's firing from "House of Cards" and his removal from the completed movie "All the Money in the World," which was reshot with actor Christopher Plummer.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).
Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.
That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.
In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.
Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.
In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.
“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.
Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.
It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.
“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.
It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.
While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.
“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.
Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.
Jill Lawless contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
