Arts

Bryan Singer’s willingness to settle a legal suit by paying $100,000 to the man accusing the Hollywood director of sexual abuse and sexual assault is not an admission of guilt, his lawyer tells The Daily Beast.

“Let us be clear,” said Marty Singer. “This in no way changes the fact that Bryan Singer is innocent of these unsubstantiated lies.”

Marty Singer spoke to The Daily Beast after BuzzFeed reported that he and Jeffrey Herman, the lawyer for Bryan Singer accuser Michael Egan, had signed a “memorandum of settlement” June 27 in which Bryan Singer agreed to pay Egan $100,000 to settle the case before it reached court.

However, Egan did not sign the document, and he told BuzzFeed that he never agreed to the settlement.

“This exact kind of take-it-and-shut-up deal is why I decided to stand up in the first place,” he said. “Being silenced goes completely against what I believe in and offers no protection for other vulnerable children.”

Herman has now revealed that he is no longer Egan’s lawyer.

Marty Singer told The Daily Beast that Egan’s side had approached the Singer camp with the offer to settle. “As Mr. Egan and his now-ex-lawyers know, a legitimate claim in this type of case can run into the millions of dollars, so their willingness to resolve it for such a relatively low figure demonstrates their total lack of confidence in their chances for success. This was their way of trying to save face after an unsuccessful attempted shakedown of Bryan Singer.”

The director’s lawyer said his client had agreed to settle for $100,000 because “this is 10 percent, or even less of what it would have cost to litigate, but Bryan and his team will continue to fight to clear his name and intend to pursue charges of malicious prosecution against Mr. Egan.”

Egan claims he was sexually abused and assaulted by Bryan Singer in properties in Hawaii and California when he was a teenager.

In a letter published by BuzzFeed, a colleague of Herman’s said the firm was representing three other clients, and one more potential client, in sex-abuse cases against Bryan Singer.

In a statement to The Daily Beast, Herman said: “We are in the process of withdrawing from representing Mr. Egan in all his cases and have no further comment concerning his matters at this time. We cannot comment on any actual or purported documents that may or may not be or reflect privileged or confidential communications. We decline to speak about any other clients we may or may not have represented.”

It is unknown who is now representing Egan after Herman formally filed to withdraw as his counsel.

Of the further actions pending against Bryan Singer, his lawyer, Marty Singer, told The Daily Beast: “We are neither aware nor have any reason to believe in the existence or legitimacy of any other claims.”