79
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Plaintiff Michael Egan III
Attorneys who sued on behalf of a former aspiring actor, claiming he was abused by two Hollywood executives, have apologized for the lawsuits and say they believe the allegations were untrue.
In letters issued last week, attorney Jeffrey Herman of Boca Raton, Florida, apologized to television executives Garth Ancier and David Neuman for lawsuits claiming that they had abused Michael Egan in 1999.
The lawsuits were filed in Hawaii in April 2014. They claimed Egan had been abused there and in California.
"Based on what I know now, I believe that I participated in making what I now know to be untrue and proveably false allegations against you," Herman said in separate letters Friday to Ancier and Neuman.
"I deeply regret the pain, suffering and damage the lawsuits and publicity have caused you, and your family, friends and colleagues," Herman wrote.
Attorney Mark Gallagher of Kailua, Hawaii, apologized to Ancier for his role in the lawsuit. "Unfortunately, I now do not believe that the allegations in the lawsuit were true and accurate," he wrote.
The apologies were accompanied by unspecified monetary compensation. The payment was "in the seven figures," according to a spokesman for Ancier.
Ancier was a high-ranking executive at the NBC, Fox and WB networks. Neuman is a former TV executive with Current TV and Disney.
Egan claimed the men abused him in Hawaii in 1999 when he was 17. Egan also sued "X-Men" director Bryan Singer and Gary Wayne Goddard, a theater producer.
All four denied the allegations as soon as the lawsuits were filed. Singer and Ancier said they weren’t even in Hawaii when Egan said he was abused.
Ancier and Neuman eventually countersued Egan for malicious prosecution.
The lawsuits against Neuman and Ancier were dismissed in June 2014. The lawsuits against Singer and Goddard were dropped by Egan around the same time.
In a prepared statement, Ancier said the attorneys who brought the false claim were making a significant financial payment for bringing a case that didn’t have any merit, finally proving that "a convicted scam artist’s claims" were entirely made up.
"I said on day one this was all absolutely false and I’m certainly pleased that’s now been admitted by the lawyers responsible for transforming absurd fabrications into a real-life nightmare for me," Ancier said.
