Bryan Singer to Pay $150,000 to Make a Sexual Assault Charge Go Away

Disgraced Bohemian Rhapsody director Bryan Singer will pay $150,000 to settle a rape allegation lawsuit, but he still maintains his innocence, according to Deadline. Because nothing says "I'm innocent" like a six-figure payout.

Cesar Sanchez-Guzman claimed in December 2017 that Singer had assaulted him at a yacht party in 2003, when Sanchez-Guzman was 17. That party was thrown by tech investor Leslie Waters, "who frequently hosted parties for young gay males in the Seattle area," according to the filing. Sanchez-Guzman filed for bankruptcy in 2014, and it's his bankruptcy trustee who will get the payout from Singer in order to have the sexual assault, battery, sexual exploitation of children charges dropped.

"The debtor filed a claim against Mr. Singer that he had no basis or legal right to file," said Singer's lawyer Andrew Brettler in a statement on Wednesday. "Mr. Singer has denied even knowing this individual, let alone allegedly having interacted with him more than 15 years ago. The decision to resolve the matter with the bankruptcy trustee was purely a business one, as litigation costs would well exceed the amount requested by the trustee to pay off the creditors who were owed money when the debtor filed for bankruptcy."

In January, The Atlantic published a story detailing decades of Singer's alleged sexual abuse, speaking to men who claim the director preyed on and assaulted them when they were under the age of consent. Singer has maintained his innocence throughout.

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