Former 'SNL' star Horatio Sanz has been accused of grooming and sexually assaulting a 17-year-old fan

• A lawsuit was filed against former "SNL" cast member Horatio Sanz in New York Thursday.
• An unnamed woman accused Sanz of grooming and sexually assaulting her when she was a teen in the 2000s.
• Sanz's attorney denied the accusations, saying the woman had demanded $7.5 million for her silence.

The comedian Horatio Sanz has been accused of grooming and sexually assaulting an underage fan while he was cast member on "Saturday Night Live" in the early 2000s, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in New York.

The lawsuit, obtained by Variety, detailed the accusations of an anonymous woman from Pennsylvania, referred to as Jane Doe, who said she first met Sanz in 2000 after posting on "SNL" fan sites.

Jane Doe said Sanz proceeded to groom her during multiple visits to the "SNL" studio and afterparties, and through communications on AOL Instant Messenger.

According to the lawsuit, the abuse culminated in Sanz digitally penetrating her against her will at two "SNL" parties in May 2002, when she was 17.

Sanz did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

But he has denied the accusations in a statement released through his attorney, Andrew Brettler. He told TMZ that the woman's claims were "categorically false" and "ludicrous."

"Before filing this lawsuit anonymously, she demanded $7.5 million in exchange for her silence. We, of course, refused and will vigorously contest these totally meritless claims."

The suit also named NBCUniversal and SNL Studios as defendants in the lawsuit. NBCUniversal did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

Here's a summary of the claims in the lawsuit:

• Jane Doe started posting on "SNL" fan sites in 1999, when she was 14.
• In January 2000, Sanz and fellow "SNL" cast member Jimmy Fallon emailed Jane Doe, then 15, from an NBC email account.
• Jane Doe met with Sanz in person after an airing of SNL in October 2000, during which he was "flirtatious and physically affectionate."
• On May 12, 2001, Jane Doe, then 16, attended her first "SNL" afterparty, where Sanz drank with her even though he "should have been aware she was underage," the lawsuit said.
• At another "SNL" party the following week, Sanz had Jane Doe sit on his lap, and later "leered at her" as they watched the sunrise from the roof, according to the lawsuit.
• The two started talking over AOL Instant Messenger on August 23, 2001. According to the lawsuit, Sanz steered these conversations to sex, encouraged her to take "revealing" photos of herself, and then called her "slutty."
• The lawsuit also included multiple incidents where Fallon witnessed Jane Doe drinking underage, including one "SNL" party where she told Fallon she was in high school and the two discussed her upcoming SAT exam. Insider contacted Fallon for comment, via NBCUniversal, but did not immediately receive a response.
• At two "SNL"parties on May 11-12, 2002, the lawsuit said Sanz kissed 17-year-old Jane Doe, groped her breasts, groped her buttocks, and digitally penetrated her genitals forcibly and without her consent.
• For the remainder of high school, Jane Doe became "depressed" and "ashamed" and "regularly self-medicated with dissociative drugs," per the lawsuit. Sanz continued to IM Jane Doe in college, and became "increasingly emotionally abusive and controlling," the lawsuit said.
• Jane Doe was hospitalized in 2005 "as a direct and proximate result of the ongoing intense shame and damage" of Sanz's "sexual conduct."
• In 2019, Jane Doe ran into Sanz in New York, where he "admitted to engaging in frequent 'cybersex' with her and further admitted and bragged" about "masturbated during their conversations when she was underage," the lawsuit said.
• In text messages in November 2019, Sanz said he was "very sorry" for manipulating her, and said: "If you want to metoo me you have every right," per the lawsuit.