Kevin Spacey was accused of sexual assault by Anthony Rapp and a man dubbed C.D. in court documents.- The $40 million civil lawsuit against Spacey is set to be dismissed by a judge.
- The decision comes after a judge ruled that C.D. had to reveal his identity publicly.
Kevin Spacey is set to have a $40 million civil lawsuit dismissed after his accuser, who alleged that the actor sexually assaulted him when he was 14 years old in the 1980s, refused to identify himself.
Last week, a federal judge ruled that the accuser had to disclose his identity publicly. Up until now, the man had only been known as C.D. in court documents.
In court documents, C.D. detailed how he had met Spacey when he was 12 years old while he was a student in Spacey's acting class in Westchester County, New York. C.D. alleged that a sexual relationship began after he ran into Spacey again when he was 14 years old.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan, New York, ruled that the public has a legitimate interest in the identity of the man "because C.D. has made his allegations against a public figure," court documents obtained by CNN showed.
Now, C.D.'s attorneys have filed a letter in a New York court on Thursday agreeing to dismiss C.D.'s case, which was filed last September.
C.D.'s attorneys, Richard M. Steigman and Peter J. Saghir, wrote, "As we had previously informed the Court, C.D. believes he is unable to withstand the scrutiny and intrusion into his life if his identity is revealed in this matter," CNN reported.
"Even this Court's decision itself on this issue has prompted multiple news reports in all forms of media, both nationally and internationally. The sudden unwanted attention that revelation of his identity will cause is simply too much for him to bear," they wrote.
Representatives for Spacey didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.C.D. is part of a joint civil lawsuit that also involves the actor Anthony Rapp. Rapp, the first accuser to come forward in 2017, alleged that Spacey made unwanted sexual advances toward him at Spacey's home in 1986, when Rapp was 14.
The attorneys wrote that they intend to ask the judge to remove C.D. from the case with Rapp and pause it while they appeal.
Spacey apologized in 2017 for the incident with Rapp, saying in a statement that he did not remember the incident, but that if he did behave that way, he is sorry for what "would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior."
In the same statement, Spacey announced that he chose "to live life as a gay man."
-Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017
Spacey's announcement that he "had loved and had romantic encounters with men" was criticized for its timing, considering the allegations.
Following these allegations, Spacey's high-profile career came to a halt. He was fired from Ridley Scott's "All the Money in the World" and recast with Christopher Plummer, and he was written out of his hit Netflix series, "House of Cards."
Spacey was previously a venerated actor. He has won two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for "The Usual Suspects" and Best Actor for "American Beauty," in which he played a frustrated suburban husband who begins to lust over the friend of his teenage daughter.