US director settles rape allegation

Hollywood film & TV director / producer Bryan Singer has agreed to pay $US150,000 ($A217,000) to settle a rape accusation but continues to deny any wrongdoing.

Cesar Sanchez-Guzman accused Singer in a 2017 lawsuit of raping him at a yacht party in 2003 when he was 17. Singer was in his late 30s at the time.

The suit alleged that Singer forced Sanchez-Guzman to perform oral sex on him before raping the teen. Singer later “approached Cesar and told him that he was a producer in Hollywood and that he could help Cesar get into acting as long as Cesar never said anything about the incident,” the complaint read. “He then told Cesar that no one would believe him if he ever reported the incident, and that he could hire people who are capable of ruining someone’s reputation.”

Singer has repeatedly denied the accusation, and this week denied even knowing Sanchez-Guzman.

His attorney Andrew Brettler said the Singr had only agreed to pay a settlement for “business” reasons after Sanchez-Guzman’s personal bankruptcy case became intertwined with his lawsuit against Singer.

Sanchez-Guzman is one of several people who have accused Singer of sexual misconduct.

An investigation by The Atlantic published in January told the stories of four men who said Singer sexually assaulted them when they were teenagers. Singer later dismissed the article as a “homophobic smear piece.”

Singer’s name was noticeably absent when Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek won his Oscar, having described working with the director as “not pleasant, not at all. And that’s about what I can say about it at this point.” Singer was fired from the project.

In February, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts removed Singer’s name from Bohemian Rhapsody‘s nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.

Singer’s other credits include X-Men, The Usual Suspects, House, Battle Creek, Dirty Sexy Money  and The Gifted.

Source: Huffington Post