- Kevin Spacey's lawyers are arguing that his accuser had a consensual interaction with the actor and lied about his age, according to a court filing obtained by INSIDER.
- Spacey pleaded not guilty on Monday to an indecent assault charge in the case, based in Massachusetts, where prosecutors say he groped an 18-year-old.
- Sixteen people in total have accused Spacey of sexual assault, and he's under investigation in Los Angeles County and London.
- He has denied all of the allegations against him.
After pleading not guilty to an indecent assault charge on Monday, Kevin Spacey's lawyers argued in a court filing that his accuser flirted with him, lied about his age, and accepted drinks from him.
The man is accusing Spacey of groping him without his consent at a bar when he was 18 years old, in 2016.
In his court motion, Spacey's lawyers request that the court preserve phone text messages and Snapchat messages between the accuser and his girlfriend at the time, whom the accuser told about the alleged assault, according to police.
The lawyers also argue that Spacey's interaction with the man was a "mutual and consensual flirtation," and accuse him of lying about his identity. In the filing, Spacey is referred to as his legal name, Kevin Fowler. INSIDER is redacting the name of the accuser.
"[The accuser] created an entirely false persona," the filing says. "He claimed he was a 23-year-old college student studying business at Wake Forest University. In fact, aside from his name, everything [the accuser] told Mr. Fowler was a lie."
The case, based in Nantucket, Massachusetts, is the first sexual assault charge brought against Spacey.
In the filing, Spacey's lawyers said his interaction was consensual because the man "did not object to the alleged touching" and "did not ask Mr. Fowler to stop and he did not remove himself from the situation."
"He welcomed drinks from Mr. Fowler, let Mr. Fowler put his arm around him near the piano while they did 'sing-alongs,' and even left the bar with him to smoke a cigarette after giving Mr. Fowler his phone number," the filing says. "At best, this describes two people engaged in mutual and consensual flirtation, nothing more."
In the accuser's original filing, he said he didn't ask Spacey to stop touching him because he froze. And in the police report, obtained by The Smoking Gun, he said he tried to shift away from Spacey but Spacey "kept reaching down his pants."
In addition to the charges Spacey faces in Nantucket, he is the subject of investigations in Los Angeles County and London. Prosecutors in Los Angeles County declined to charge him in one case, citing the statute of limitations. Sixteen people have publicly accused Spacey of sexual misconduct in total, all of which the actor denies.
- Read more from INSIDER:
- Kevin Spacey pleaded not guilty and a judge ordered him to stay away from one of his alleged victims in the first sexual assault case filed against him
- Police complaint says there is a video from 2016 of Kevin Spacey allegedly sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man
- Kevin Spacey tweets strange 'House of Cards'-inspired video as news breaks that he's being charged with sexual assault
- LA district attorney declines to prosecute sex crime cases against Kevin Spacey, Anthony Anderson, and Steven Seagal
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