“Bohemian Rhapsody” director Bryan Singer has caused the man suing him for sexual assault to have his years-old bankruptcy case reopened after the director accused him of not listing all information.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Singer’s accuser, Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, recently had his 2014 bankruptcy reopened by a federal court judge, despite the case being closed for four years.
The decision to reopen his bankruptcy came after Singer brought it up in Sanchez-Guzman’s civil lawsuit against the director over an alleged 2003 rape.
Singer argued Sanchez-Guzman’s bankruptcy petition never mentioned any claims against him over the alleged rape, which would have become the property of the bankruptcy estate and could have become an asset to pay off his debt.
Last month, Sanchez-Guzman filed docs in the bankruptcy now listing that he has two claims against Bryan Singer with an unknown value and he is claiming an exemption of $34,486 if he does win a judgment from the director.
The order reopening the case means any judgment will go first to his years-old creditors.
In his original bankruptcy filing, Sanchez-Guzman had $3,334 in assets and around $76,368 in liabilities. The case will now remain active until the outcome of the civil case against Singer.
In his suit, Sanchez-Guzman claims while on a yacht in Seattle, Singer forced him to perform oral sex and proceeded to perform oral sex on Sanchez-Guzman and then allegedly anally penetrated him.
Following the incident, he alleged Singer talked to him about helping him get into acting but only if he stayed silent about the rape.
He sued seeking unspecified damages.
Bryan Singer responded to the lawsuit not by addressing the sexual abuse allegations but instead focusing on Sanchez-Guzman’s bankruptcy.
Singer said that since the alleged incident took place years before the bankruptcy was filed, it would mean Sanchez-Guzman violated the law by not disclosing it. He pointed out that bankruptcy law clearly states if a debtor makes false statements, they could be fined up to $500,000 and imprisonment for up to five years or both.
He claimed that Sanchez-Guzman “should not now be permitted to benefit from his violation of the law.”
Singer also claimed that since the alleged incident occurred in 2003, the statute of limitations has expired.
The case is ongoing.
A lawyer for Singer previously told The Blast, “Bryan has publicly denied the 15-year old allegations since they were first made last year. We issued a statement to that effect. This was a motion to dismiss based on procedural grounds. The plaintiff never asserted this claim as he was required to under federal law when he filed for bankruptcy protection in 2014. Indeed, in response to our motion, the plaintiff was forced to reopen the bankruptcy proceeding and moved to substitute the bankruptcy trustee as the real party in interest.”
Singer was noticeably absent from the Golden Globes celebration where “Bohemian Rhapsody” won Best Motion Picture – Drama and Rami Malek won for his role as Freddie Mercury. He was famously fired before filming ended but he is still credited as the director on the movie.
“What an honor. Thank you #HollywoodForeignPress,” Singer wrote on Instagram following the Golden Globes.
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