Director Bryan Singer will pay $150,000 to settle a rape accusation, though Singer denies any wrongdoing.
Cesar Sanchez-Guzman said in a lawsuit filed in December 2017 that Singer sexually assaulted him during a 2003 Seattle yacht party, when Sanchez-Guzman was 17. The settlement was announced Wednesday.
“Mr. Singer has denied even knowing this individual, let alone allegedly having interacted with him more than 15 years ago,” said Singer’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, in a statement.
Sanchez-Guzman filed for bankruptcy in 2014. Sanchez-Guzman’s creditors reopened the case against him because, they said, he did not list the potential proceeds from a lawsuit against Singer as an asset.
In a filing Wednesday, attorney Rory C. Livesey, representing the creditors, said they will receive just under $61,000. Anything left over — after the $61,000 and legal costs are covered — will go to Sanchez-Guzman. Livesey said the debt involved student loans.
Livesey said in his filing that there was “no evidence to support the allegation that Singer ever attended a party on a yacht with Guzman — something that Singer denies ever occurred.”
The litigation will resolve Sanchez-Guzman’s litigation against Singer, Livesey said. An attorney for Sanchez-Guzman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brettler stated: “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.”
In February, Millennium Films put on hold its comic book adaptation, “Red Sonja,” which Singer had been scheduled to direct. Singer was also fired from last year’s hit “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
In January, The Atlantic published a story detailing four accounts from men accusing Singer of sexual misconduct, beginning in 2014.
Singer has denied all of the accusations. He is best known for directing four “X-Men” films, as well as “The Usual Suspects.”
Pamela Chelin and Umberto Gonzales contributed to this story.
