Kevin Spacey, the Oscar-winning actor, was scheduled to appear in a London court on Wednesday to stand trial for a dozen sexual offenses allegedly committed more than a decade ago.
The 63-year-old “American Beauty” and “House of Cards” actress faces a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court in south London.
Since his first appearance in court in Britain last year, he has been released on unconditional bail.
Spacey’s outstanding career has been derailed by numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, despite the fact that he has never been convicted of a crime.
Last year, he appeared in London’s Old Bailey court to plead not guilty to five counts of sexual assault against three men, including four counts of inducing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
They supposedly occurred in London in 2005 and 2008, and in Gloucestershire, western England, in 2013.
Prosecutors subsequently brought seven further charges against another man in November, bringing the total number of counts Spacey faces in the UK to 12.
The new charges, allegedly committed between 2001 and 2004, include three counts of indecent assault, three instances of sexual assault, and one case of inducing someone to engage in sexual activity without their consent.
Kevin Spacey Fowler, Spacey’s full name, appeared in Southwark Crown Court in January to deny all of the new counts.
He merely spoke to authenticate his identify and register his not guilty pleas. Under English law, none of the accused victims can be identified, and reporting restrictions prevent more details from being revealed until trial.
Spacey had a successful acting career, playing characters such as a middle-aged father longing after a teen in “American Beauty,” a serial killer in “Se7en,” and the villain in “Superman Returns.”
Between 2004 to 2015, he was the artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre.
In 2017, he was one of the first celebrities to be implicated in the global #MeToo movement, and he was accused of sexual assault by several young men. He was dropped from the last season of “House of Cards” as well as other projects.
A $40 million sexual misconduct lawsuit filed against Spacey was dismissed by a New York court last year.
The plaintiff, actor Anthony Rapp, said that the star raped him when he was 14 years old. He filed the civil suit after being advised that it was too late to file a criminal charge.
Spacey was cleared of indecent and sexual assault charges in Massachusetts in 2019.
Spacey has denied all claims of sexual assault in court.
