Kevin Spacey on Thursday defeated a sexual abuse case against him after jurors in a Manhattan civil trial found his accuser, Anthony Rapp, didn’t prove his claim that the Oscar winner made an unwanted sexual advance on him when he was 14.
The verdict followed a three-week trial in Manhattan federal court and came roughly two hours after jurors began deliberating.
Spacey, the former star of the Netflix political drama “House of Cards,” emerged in the hall outside the courtroom briefly but went back inside. He declined to answer reporters’ questions upon leaving.
Spacey’s lawyer, Jennifer Keller, told reporters her client was grateful jurors “saw through these false allegations.”
“What’s next is Mr. Spacey is going to be proving that he’s innocent of anything he’s been accused of,” Keller said.
Spacey faces a criminal trial in London next year after pleading not guilty to five sex offense charges over alleged assaults between 2005 and 2013.
The trial in Manhattan federal court began on Oct. 6, just under five years after Spacey’s career was upended by sexual misconduct allegations.
Spacey has denied any misconduct.
