Kevin Spacey settles sexual assault cases with three British men

Kevin Spacey has reached an out-of-court settlement in civil claims brought by three British men accusing him of sexual assault.

Trials were due to start in October this year, but will now not go ahead, after all the separate lawsuits were halted earlier this month due to an undisclosed agreement being reached by the parties. A court order published on Thursday and dated 13 March said that case judge Christina Lambert ordered the proceedings paused, saying all sides had "agreed to the terms of the settlement".

The judge added: "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." No details regarding the nature of the settlement between Spacey and the accusers have been released. The three men, who lodged their cases in London's High Court, alleged the Hollywood actor abused them between 2000 and 2013.

Two of them also gave evidence in a criminal trial at Southwark Crown Court in 2023, which saw the actor acquitted on all charges. The 66-year-old has repeatedly denied accusations of sexual misconduct, insisting that the incidents were consensual or did not happen.

Sexual assault allegations against Spacey, who is an Oscar-winner and one of Hollywood's biggest stars, first surfaced in 2017. The barrister representing the three men told the High Court in a hearing earlier this month that seven other people who allege they were sexually assaulted by Spacey wished to give evidence.

One of the three claimants, who waived his right to anonymity, Ruari Cannon, alleges Spacey assaulted him in 2013 at an event related to a production of the Tennessee Williams's play Sweet Bird Of Youth. Spacey's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while a spokesperson for the claimants' lawyers declined to ⁠comment following the settlement.

Read more from Sky News:Plans to let AI firms use music axed by governmentAI-generated Val Kilmer to star in new movie after death Another civil lawsuit against Spacey in the US was dismissed by a ⁠jury in 2022. The actor ​stood trial in London the following year, charged ​with sexually assaulting four men in Britain, but was acquitted of all nine ‌charges.

The allegations against Spacey, who was artistic director at The Old Vic theatre in London between 2004 and 2015, included an accusation from a former aspiring actor that he drugged and performed a sex act on him while he slept. Spacey, who won Oscars for the films American Beauty ​and The Usual Suspects, was dropped from the ​TV drama House of Cards and removed from the ​movie All the Money in the World after the first ⁠allegations of sexual assault emerged..