Actor Kevin Spacey faces 4 sexual assault charges in UK
Actor Kevin Spacey is facing four counts of sexual assault in the U.K., according to the Crown Prosecution Service.
"The CPS has authorised criminal charges against Kevin Spacey, 62, for four counts of sexual assault against three men," Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said in a statement announcing the charges Thursday.
She added, "He has also been charged with causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. The charges follow a review of the evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police in its investigation."
The first accuser contends he was sexually assaulted by Spacey twice in London in March 2005. A second accuser said Spacey assaulted him in August 2008, and a third claimed Spacey sexually assaulted him in Gloucestershire in April 2013.
The fourth charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent allegedly took place in London in August 2008 to the same person accusing Spacey of sexual assault that month.
While authorized, the charges won't be enacted unless he is arrested in England or Wales, according to The Washington Post.
Spacey's acting career was largely derailed by sexual assault and misconduct claims starting in October 2017. Actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making sexual advances toward him at a party in the 1980s when he was still underage.
The two-time Oscar winner said in a statement at the time: "I have a lot of respect and admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor. I'm beyond horrified to hear this story. I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior."
The actor also earned derision for coming out as gay in his apology to Rapp.
In the weeks that followed, Spacey was accused of misconduct by several other people. In November 2017, he was fired from his starring role in Netflix's "House of Cards," a role for which he won a Golden Globe, due to the allegations.
Spacey was accused of misconduct by at least 20 people while he served as artistic director at the Old Vic Theatre in London from 1995 to 2013. The allegations were made in an anonymous investigation conducted by an outside law firm following the November 2017 allegations elsewhere.
The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office investigated two allegations of sexual assault against Spacey made in April 2018, but announced seven months later it would not be pressing charges due to the statute of limitations.
In December 2018, Spacey was charged with indecent assault stemming from an alleged incident with a teenager on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, during the summer of 2016.
That case was tossed out midtrial in July 2019 after the accuser invoked his Fifth Amendment rights halfway through testimony and it was struck from the record.
ABC News' Chris Francescani and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
