Kevin Spacey sobs as he is cleared assaulting four men who ‘just wanted his money’

Double Oscar winner Kevin Spacey wept with joy as he was cleared by a jury of sexually assaulting four men after insisting they were motivated by ‘money, money and then money’.

The House of Cards star, who celebrated his 64th birthday today, was acquitted by the nine men and three women of abusing the men ‘for his own sexual gratification’ between 2001 and 2013.

Spacey was said to have grabbed, squeezed and touched his accusers’ genitals and buttocks over their clothing, while he was the artistic director at the Old Vic theatre.

An aspiring actor described Spacey as a ‘vile sexual predator’ and said he was drugged by the star before he performed a sex act on him as he slept on the sofa at the actor’s London apartment in 2008.

 

The man has sued Spacey for £500,000 but he insists they had consensual sex.

The Hollywood actor said: ‘Nothing about his story made any sense.

‘At the end of my evening, we had a consensual sexual experience and everything was fine.’

Another claimed Spacey assaulted him ‘a good dozen times’ and nearly caused him to crash as he grabbed his groin while driving to one of Sir Elton John’s ‘White Tie and Tiara’ balls.

He described the actor as like a ‘slippery, snaky, difficult person’ and referred to the star’s serial killer character in the movie Seven, adding: ‘He’s a bit like that, a bit creepy.’

The man claimed he was assaulted by Spacey while driving him to the charity gala at Sir Elton’s mansion in Windsor in either 2004 or 2005.

Spacey insisted he only went to one of Sir Elton’s balls in 2001.

He said he even Googled ‘Where was Kevin Spacey in 2005′ and found he was leading a play at the Old Vic before heading to Australia.

Sir Elton told the trial he only recalled Spacey coming to the ball in 2001, after flying over on a private jet, and he had no recollection of the complainant.

‘He arrived in white tie. He came off a private jet and came straight to the ball. I would have assumed so.

‘I don’t think he was wearing white tie on a commercial flight,’ the singer joked.

Spacey denied and was cleared of three counts of sexual assault and one of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent against the first accuser, between 1 January 2001 and 24 June 2005.

He denied and was cleared by the jury two counts of sexual assault against a second man during a dress rehearsal for a charity event at a West End theatre on 20 March 2005.

He was also acquitted of sexual assault and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity against the aspiring actor at his Waterloo apartment between 1 August 2008 and 31 August 2008.

Spacey denied and was cleared of sexually assaulting the fourth complainant at his luxury lakeside home in the Cotswolds on 1 April 2013.

The jury of nine men and three women took 12 hours and 26 minutes to announce its verdict.

Wearing a dark suit bespectacled Spacey (reaction) as the jury cleared him of every charge.

Mr Justice Wall said: ‘Every case I have to do has it’s own difficulties.

‘In your case this pressure came from the fact that this was a case attracting significant attention and you were like fish in a goldfish bowl.’

The first accuser claimed he was assaulted by Spacey repeatedly between 2001 and 2005 and described the actor as ‘a very mixed-up individual’.

He said: ‘He was almost right from the get-go grooming me to see if I might swing a little bit, if I was a little bit gay.

‘He would grab my hand and put it on his privates.

‘He went to a lot of lavish parties at the time, he was very famous, he had just done American Beauty, he was an Oscar winner.

‘Elton John would have this big Windsor party and it was a big, £1m party. It was a summer party, The White Tie and Tiara Ball, it was called.

‘He hit me right in the nuts, basically.

‘It took my breath away, he was laughing giggling and I said it f***ing hurt.

Spacey admitted he touched the man on several occasions ‘and he touched me’.

He said: ‘I find being intimate with another human being remarkable and beautiful.

‘He was flirtatious. He was very open to the attention that other people would give him.’

Another alleged victim said Spacey was ‘like a cobra coming and getting hold’ during a West End dress rehearsal for a charity event in March 2005 for victims of the tsunami.

He said the actor looked at him in the crotch area and with a breath smelling of alcohol gave him a ‘relentless barrage of vile language’.

The man told the court: ‘It was so kind of visceral and degrading, it was not romantic or nice, it was a grab and quite strong.

‘You could see in my eyes I was getting upset. I was nervous. You could tell there was no compassion or thought for me. It was just going on, and on, and on.’
Spacey said his accuser was motivated by ‘money, money and then money.

‘He has, for some reason, anger towards me, maybe I wasn’t as lovely as he hoped? Maybe he was upset about other things, with respect to my sexuality?

‘I don’t believe a word, a word, that comes out of his mouth. From beginning to end.’

An aspiring actor claimed he woke up to Spacey performing a sex act on him after an evening of beer, pizza and cannabis at the star’s Waterloo home in August 2008.

The man said he had made contact with Spacey seeking a mentor. After a short evening walk, he was invited up to Spacey’s apartment.

The man said: ‘He made me feel weirdly special – someone saying, hey, we’re going to carve out time for you this evening.

‘I certainly didn’t know at that point that he was a predator.’

Recalling sitting on the sofa with the star, the man said: ‘He came over to hug me, incredibly low waisted, and then put his head in my crotch.

‘I remember having my hands up and looking at Kevin Spacey’s bald patches on the back of his head.’

The man fell asleep and awoke to Spacey giving him oral sex.

He said: ‘It’s so f***ing Hollywood, it’s so strange, it’s weird.

‘He got in my head and I was made to feel I was being circled by a shark.

‘As I pushed him off after that I then felt drowsy, fell asleep, or I believe drugged, and woke up to him doing something.’

Spacey told the court: ‘I do recall the sexual encounter. We were romantic and I performed oral sex on him. We were in a romantic situation.

‘I have been very open about that time being promiscuous. I had casual indiscriminate sexual encounters.’

But Spacey said: ‘Nothing about his story made any sense.

‘At the end of my evening, we had a consensual sexual experience and everything was fine.

‘I do recall the sexual encounter. We were romantic and I performed oral sex on him. We were in a romantic situation.

‘I don’t know who made the first move.

‘He did not fall asleep and I did not perform oral sex on him, despite what he has shockingly accused me of.’

Another man claimed Spacey assaulted him at his rented luxury home in the Cotswolds on 1 April 2013.

They had earlier met at a pub frequented by celebrities including Kate Moss and Gary Barlow where friends of the star jokingly called him ‘K-Dog’.

After drinkinf a double Jack Daniels on the rocks, Spacey invited the man and his friends to spend the evening with him.

When he arrived at the lakeside home the alleged victim said he saw ’20-30′ joints lying around in the living room and kitchen which ‘someone had rolled’ for Spacey.

The man said he was assaulted after he went out onto the balcony to smoke and accidentally let Spacey’s dog out.

He said Spacey kissed him down the neck twice and grabbing his crotch while telling him: ‘Be cool. Be cool’.

The man said he felt immediately ‘uncomfortable and shocked’ after Spacey came on to him ‘a very aggressive manner’ and he left in an emotional state.

The actor told the court it was ‘entirely possible I made a clumsy pass at some point’ but denied it was aggressive.

Spacey added: ‘I did not have a magic wand that I waved in front of people’s faces when I wanted people to go to bed with me.

‘I do everything I can to make that [fame] disappear and be myself and just be a regular guy and get to know people.’

Sir Elton, husband David Furnish gave evidence via video-link from a lawyer’s office in
Monaco and said Spacey attended the White Tie and Tiara Ball as a ‘surprise guest’ in 2001.

Mr Furnish said he saw Spacey at a different gala evening in 2012, and remembered his accuser as ‘very handsome’ and ‘very friendly’.

Patrick Gibbs, KC, defending Spacey said he was has been wrongly accused by three ‘liars’ and
a fourth man who was ‘not exactly sober’.

He said the man who claimed he awoke to Spacey performing oral sex on him launched a £500,000 civil claim against the actor.

The man who claimed he was sexually assaulted at Spacey’s Cotswolds home sent an email to the star on 5 October 2022 seeking a ‘settlement’, the court heard.

The complainant who claimed he was targeted by Spacey at the West End charity performance confirmed he consulted lawyers hoping to claim damages for assault, psychological damage and loss of earnings.

Mr Gibbs told jurors: ‘You might say the amounts of money had a possibility of playing a significant role in all the claims these men make.’

He added: ‘It is not a crime to like sex even if you’re famous and it’s not a crime to have sex even if you’re famous.

‘And it’s not a crime to have casual sex and it’s not a crime to have a lot of sex.

‘And it’s not a crime to have sex with someone of the same sex, because it’s 2023 not 1823.’

Actor Anthony Rapp tried to sue Spacey for more than $40m over a claim the American Beauty star sexually assaulted him in his apartment in New York in 1986.

Last October a New York jury concluded Spacey did not molest Rapp but he said: ‘I lost my job, I lost my reputation, I lost everything in a matter of days.

‘With the exception of the last five or six years I have been unable to work.

‘Some courageous and very kind filmmakers and producers who, even in the face of accusations, wanted to work for me and wanted me to work for them and I was very glad to do so.

‘I have been very fortunate in the career I have.’

Referring to his decision to come out publicly as gay, Spacey said: ‘Now that the allegation of Anthony Rapp has been proven to be false, maybe people will read that differently.

‘I was under a lot of pressure that I had to say something. If I didn’t say anything, it was going to be a nightmare, it was going to be a PR nightmare.

‘I release a statement and I understand why people responded in the way that they did to it.’

He added: ‘The gay community had been pressuring me for a very long time about coming out.’

Spacey, originally from South Orange, New Jersey, denied and was cleared of seven sexual counts of sexual assault, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and one allegation of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

The two-time Oscar winner starred in Glengarry Glen Ross, Seven, LA Confidential and Baby Driver. He also had the lead role in the Netflix series House of Cards.

Spacey hugged his PR team and lawyers in celebration after court had finished sitting. He shook hands with Mr Gibbs, his counsel, whilst beaming at him with joy.

After the verdict of not guilty to all counts was given Mr Justice Wall demanded: ‘The members of the public gallery will still reacting, or I will throw you out.’

His acquittal comes on the same day the actor turns 64.

Speaking outside court Spacey said: ‘I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process for what has just happened today, but I would like to say that I’m enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached their decision and I am humbled by the outcome today.

‘I also want to thank the staff inside this courthouse, the security and all those who took care of us every single day, my legal team, Evan Lowenstein and Lucy for being here every day and that’s all I have to say for the moment, thank you very much.’