Man who accused Kevin Spacey of sexual assault drops lawsuit

A young man who accused Kevin Spacey of a sexual assault in a Massachusetts bar has dropped his lawsuit against the award-winning actor just over a week after it was filed, according to a new court filing.

A motion for "voluntary dismissal" of the civil complaint against Spacey was filed in Superior Court in Nantucket, Massachusetts, with no reason given.

Spacey's accuser, who was an 18-year-old busboy at a Nantucket bar at the time of the alleged assault, filed the civil complaint on June 26. In it, the accuser said Spacey bought him "multiple alcoholic beverages" before he then forcibly touched and fondled his genitals -- the same allegations he made in an ongoing criminal case.

Possible motives for the dismissal this week include a private settlement or the accuser's desire not to risk damaging his odds in a separate criminal case with the civil suit, which was filed just six days ago.

William Little's lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, who made a name for himself defending victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, gave no comment.

A hearing on the criminal charges against Spacey is set for Monday in the District Court in Nantucket, the posh island community where the alleged aggression took place in July 2016.

The actor has insisted on his innocence. The charges carry a penalty of up to five years in prison.

The allegation of sexual misconduct against the two-time Oscar winner was one of more than a dozen to emerge since 2017 -- in both the United States and Britain -- with devastating effect on his acting career.

He was dropped from the cast of the popular "House of Cards" series and from a leading role in director Ridley Scott's "All the Money in the World"; Christopher Plummer was brought in as a last-second replacement.