Director Roman Polanski will no longer be tried in the United States for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl more than 40 years ago.
The case against Polanski, 91, was due to proceed in Los Angeles civil court next August, but a settlement has already been reached.
The Franco-Polish director fled the United States decades ago after admitting to the rape of another 13-year-old girl.
The last case was “A settlement was reached in the summer to the mutual satisfaction of the parties and has now been formally dismissed,” said Polanski’s lawyer, Alexander Rufus-Isaacs.
The lawsuit, filed last year, alleged that Polanski took a then-teenager to dinner at a restaurant in Los Angeles in 1973.
Director Roman Polanski will not be tried in the US for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl more than 40 years ago
He allegedly gave her tequila and, when she began to feel dizzy, he took her to his house, where he forced himself on her.
“She told him, ‘Please don’t do this,'” the plaintiff’s attorney, Gloria Allred, told reporters in March.
‘She alleges that he ignored her pleas. It also alleges that defendant Polanski removed plaintiff’s clothing and proceeded to sexually assault her, causing her tremendous physical and emotional pain and suffering.
The plaintiff, known as Jane Doe, appeared with Allred at a press conference in 2017 where she said she was 16 years old at the time of the alleged assault.
He said he had told a friend about what happened the next day, but had not told anyone since.
The civil suit, which sought unspecified damages, was filed in June 2023, just before a California law allowing an expanded window for lawsuits against alleged perpetrators of sex crimes expired.
Court documents filed in California in July said a “conditional” settlement had been reached.
Polanski was accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl (pictured right with his lawyer Gloria Allred) in 1973. The alleged victim chose to remain anonymous.
Allred said in an email Tuesday night that “the parties have agreed to a claims settlement to their mutual satisfaction.”
Oscar winner Polanski is a divisive figure: some in the film world praise his creative genius, while others insist he was always a sexual predator.
Polanski admitted to raping 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in a plea deal in 1977 to avoid a trial on more serious charges.
But he fled to France the following year, after serving 42 days in jail, when it appeared a judge was reconsidering his release. France does not extradite its citizens.
Geimer later defended Polanski and was photographed with him last year.
In May, a French court acquitted Polanski of defaming British actress Charlotte Lewis after she accused him of raping her when she was a teenager.
Polanski fled the US to his native France after admitting to the rape of another 13-year-old girl
Polanski has since apologized to Samantha Geimer, the victim in the first case, but denies any wrongdoing.
The director has always denied any wrongdoing, but has since apologized to Geimer, who was awarded a sum of $600,000 by Polanski.
He has managed to maintain his film career and directed ‘El Palacio’ in 2023.
However, he was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018.
