Bohemian Rhapsody director Bryan Singer has agreed to pay $150,000 to resolve allegations that he raped a 17-year-old boy over a decade ago, although he has continued to deny any wrongdoing.
Cesar Sanchez-Guzman filed a lawsuit against Singer in 2017 after alleging the director raped him on a yacht in 2003 when he was 17. In a statement through his lawyers at the time, Singer, 53, said he “categorically denies these allegations.”
Sanchez-Guzman, who had previously filed for bankruptcy in 2014, had his case reopened in 2018 by a bankruptcy trustee, who argued that his claim against the X-Men director had not been originally listed among his assets, and that any proceeds from the case should be made available to his creditors, The Los Angeles Times reports.
An agreement between Singer’s attorneys and the bankruptcy trustee was reached on Wednesday.
“Mr. Singer has denied even knowing this individual, let alone allegedly having interacted with him more than 15 years ago. The decision to resolve the matter with the bankruptcy trustee was purely a business one, as litigation costs would well exceed the amount requested by the trustee to pay off the creditors who were owed money when the debtor filed for bankruptcy,” Andrew Brettler, an attorney for Singer told Variety in a statement.
According to Variety, $61,000 of the settlement sum would go towards Sanchez-Guzman’s creditors, with additional funds to cover administrative costs. The outlet went on to report that if the settlement is approved by the court, Sanchez-Guzman’s lawsuit will be dismissed.
In a lengthy report by The Atlantic, which was published earlier this year after the tremendous success of Bohemian Rhapsody, four men spoke against Singer, claiming he seduced and had sex with them while they were underage — one as young as 13.
Singer’s lawyer told The Atlantic that the director categorically denies ever having sex with, or a preference for, underage men. The lawyer also noted that Singer has never been arrested for or charged with any crime.
Aspiring model and actor Michael Egan also previously filed a civil suit against the director in 2014, claiming he forced him into sex during parties in California and Hawaii in the late 1990s. The suit was dropped after Singer provided evidence that he was not in Hawaii at the time.
Singer was fired from Bohemian Rhapsody in 2017 near the end of filming for allegedly being “unexpectedly unavailable” for several days on set. The film went on to gross close to $1 billion worldwide and win multiple Oscars, including Best Actor for Rami Malek.
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