Massage Therapist Who Accused Kevin Spacey of Groping Dies - National Post

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LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) — The massage therapist who accused Kevin Spacey of sexually assaulting him during a session in October 2016 has died, according to a court filing.

No further information was disclosed. The anonymous massage therapist filed suit in September 2018, alleging that Spacey had forced him to grab Spacey’s genitals and tried to kiss him during a session in Malibu.

Spacey’s attorneys filed a notice in federal court on Tuesday stating that the plaintiff’s attorneys notified them on Sept. 11 that their client had “recently passed.”

The cause of death has been described as cancer, though that was not disclosed in the filing.

Spacey was also accused of groping a busboy at a restaurant in Nantucket in 2016. That allegation resulted in a civil suit and a criminal charge, but both were dropped earlier this summer after the accuser pleaded the 5th Amendment during an evidentiary hearing. In that case, Spacey’s attorney alleged that the boy and his mother had altered text messages before turning them over to the police.

Spacey still faces an investigation in London.

In the Malibu case, the civil trial was supposed to take place on June 23, 2020, in federal court. Last month, the accuser’s attorneys revealed that they would call two other unnamed massage therapists who alleged that they were also victimized by Spacey. The two accusers were said to be afraid to reveal their names publicly.

Kevin Spacey exits the courthouse after making an appearance during his arraignment on January 7, 2019 at the Nantucket District Court, in Nantucket, Massachusetts. – Kevin Spacey was formally charged Monday with the indecent assault of a teenager who alleged the US actor groped him at a bar in Massachusetts in 2016. AFP/Getty Images

Spacey’s attorneys vehemently denied wrongdoing, and said that the accuser had failed to substantiate his allegations or even specify when and where the alleged assault occurred.

The accuser’s attorney, Genie Harrison, is blasting Spacey’s counsel for filing the notice with the court, saying they did so to gain a tactical advantage. Harrison did not identify the accuser or give additional information about his death. She says “his fight for justice is still very much alive.”

“I regret being forced to respond to Kevin Spacey’s undignified, insensitive and inappropriate public filing of the notice of death of our client, John Doe. It is true that Mr. Doe recently died. His untimely death was, to his family, a devastating shock that they are struggling to process and is so recent that they have not yet held his funeral service.

“Out of professional responsibility, we notified Spacey’s counsel of Mr. Doe’s passing. We explained our intent to allow his family more time to get past their immediate, paralyzing grief and begin settling his affairs before we filed a death notice with the court — which is our prerogative as his counsel. Spacey ignored our request for compassion and filed the notice yesterday without our consent.

“While there is no court deadline for filing a party’s death notice, filing triggers a 90-day countdown. That means that unless the estate is substituted in the party’s place, the court may dismiss the case.

“Filing the notice yesterday was unnecessary and contemptible. I’m not surprised, however, that Spacey prematurely filed the notice in an attempt to gain the advantage of a ticking clock. Mr. Doe’s family must now open his estate at the same time as planning a funeral and processing their grief.

“Mr. Doe was a dignified, kind, middle-aged man traumatized by Spacey’s alleged sexually depraved attack. As a result of this case, other victims from around the world have reached out to our firm. Mr. Doe believed their harrowing stories, and in his final months he looked forward to standing up for all of them. His fight for justice is still very much alive.

“My firm grieves the loss of Mr. Doe, who was truly a wonderful client and human being. He brought light and love every time he visited our office, and we were lucky to know him.”