A massage therapist who anonymously accused actor Kevin Spacey of sexual assault has died, according to court records.
The plaintiff, known only in court documents as “John Doe,” alleged that Spacey forced him to grab his genitals while giving the actor a massage in a private residence in Malibu, California. The suit was originally filed against Spacey in September 2018, though the actor insisted that the veiled identity of the plaintiff should prevent the civil action from going forward. The judge approved the pursuit of the judgment in May of this year.
A plan had been assembled by all involved parties in August to proceed with the suit in a trial that would last at least seven days. However, the attorney for the accuser informed Spacey this week that his client had “recently passed.”
Court records did not indicate how long the plaintiff had been deceased but noted that his counsel was informed on Sept. 11. Another document indicated that further details were pending.
Spacey also received legal relief in July after another accuser, William Little, abruptly stopped cooperating with prosecutors in a criminal case stemming from an alleged incident in Nantucket, Massachusetts, in 2017. Spacey was accused by Little’s mother of plying her son with alcohol at a bar then forcing him to touch his genitals. Spacey would have faced up to five years in prison for the alleged offense, but prosecutors officially dropped charges after Little invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege to stay silent.
The details surrounding the death of the massage therapist have not been made clear, and the future of the lawsuit is uncertain. There is some potential for heirs of the accuser to continue with the civil action, but it would likely involve revealing the identity of the deceased massage therapist as well as several other legal hurdles.
