NEW YORK (AP) — A judge says a man cannot anonymously accuse actor Kevin Spacey of sexually abusing him at age 14 after meeting him in Spacey's suburban New York acting class.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued the decision Monday in a lawsuit in which the man wished to be identified only as "C.D."
According to the Associated Press, the man is seeking over $40 million in damages.
Kaplan said C.D.'s privacy interest does not outweigh the presumption of open judicial proceedings and the prejudice to Spacey that would occur if he could proceed anonymously.
Kaplan noted that C.D., for decades, has spoken to an unknown number of people about his claims against Spacey.
According to The AP, since the 1990s, C.D. apparently cooperated in November 2017 for a New York magazine article that appeared on the website “Vulture."
The judge said, “the evidence suggests that C.D. knowingly and repeatedly took the risk that any of these individuals at one point or another would reveal his true identity in a manner that would bring that identity to wide public attention," The AP reported.
The judge also noted that C.D. recruited Broadway star Anthony Rapp for the lawsuit as his co-plaintiff.
According to the case, Spacey allegedly made a sexual advance to Rapp at a 1980s party when he was a teen.
The judge gave C.D.'s lawyers 10 days to reveal their client's name.
