Kevin Spacey settles out of court with 3 men over alleged sexual assaults

LONDON (AP) — Three men who alleged that actor Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted them have settled their civil claims before going to trial at the High Court in London, courts document show.

The three men alleged that the Academy Award-winning star abused them at times between 2000 and 2013. Spacey has denied the allegations.

Civil trials were due to start later this year, but case judge Christina Lambert last week ordered the proceedings paused, saying the parties had “agreed to the terms of the settlement.”

“By consent, it is ordered that all further proceedings against the defendant in these actions be stayed upon the terms set out in this order and in the confidential schedule,” the judge said.

The terms were not disclosed and the judge did not make any order about costs.

The order, dated March 13, was made public on Wednesday.

Spacey’s representatives have been approached for comment.

Spacey, now 66, was tried in London in 2023 on nine alleged sex offenses against four men, and acquitted on all counts.

Two of the civil claimants, whose identities are protected by legal orders, gave evidence during Spacey's criminal trial.

Spacey also successfully defended himself against a $40 million civil lawsuit in New York in 2022 brought by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp.

One of the most celebrated actors of his generation until his career was derailed by sex abuse allegations, Spacey starred in films including “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “LA Confidential” and the TV political thriller “House of Cards.” He won a best supporting actor Academy Award for the 1995 film “The Usual Suspects” and a lead actor Oscar for the 1999 movie “American Beauty.”

Spacey was artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre from 2004 to 2015.

FILE - Actor Kevin Spacey leaves Southwark Crown Court in London, June 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

LONDON (AP) — Two men appeared in a London court on Thursday accused of carrying out “hostile” surveillance last year of the U.K.’s Jewish community on behalf of Iran.

Iranian-British national Nematollah Shahsavani, 40, and 22-year-old Iranian citizen Alireza Farasati are accused of engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between July 9 and Aug. 15 last year.

Prosecution lawyer Louise Attrill said the defendants “are suspected of assisting the Iranian intelligence service by conducting hostile surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Israeli and Jewish community.”

She told a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court that surveillance targets included the Israeli embassy in London, a Jewish community center, a college and Britain’s oldest synagogue.

Neither defendant was asked to enter a plea during the hearing, but Farasati's lawyer said he intends to fight the charge.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring ordered both men to be detained until their next hearing at London's Central Criminal Court on April 17.

The men, who both live in London, were arrested March 6. Two other British-Iranian nationals arrested as part of the same investigation have been released without charge.

Ken McCallum, head of Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service, said in October that more than 20 “potentially lethal Iran-backed plots” had been disrupted in the previous 12 months.

FILE - A sign stands in front of the New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police, in London, Sept. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)