Roman Polanski Reaches Settlement, Avoids Los Angeles Trial Over Alleged Sexual Assault of Minor in 1973

Roman Polanski has reached a settlement agreement in a lawsuit related to the alleged sexual assault of a minor in 1973, according to multiple reports.

The anonymous woman had alleged in a civil lawsuit filed in Los Angeles in June 2023 that Polanski, whom she had met at a party months prior to the alleged attack, took her out to dinner, gave her alcohol, and sexually assaulted her at his Los Angeles home in 1973 when she was a minor, according to the complaint obtained by Variety, Deadline and French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The suit sought unspecified damages and was filed before the expiration of a California law that allowed for an extended window for claims against the alleged perpetrators of sex crimes, AFP reported.

However, the case, which was set to go to trial in August 2025, has since been settled, AFP reported on Wednesday, Oct. 23, citing the now-91-year-old director’s attorney, Alexander Rufus-Isaacs. 

“The case settled in the summer to the parties’ mutual satisfaction and has now been formally dismissed,” Rufus-Isaacs confirmed in a statement shared with PEOPLE on Oct. 23.

Additionally, Gloria Allred, the attorney for the woman listed as Jane Doe in the suit, confirmed to AFP, Variety and Deadline that a settlement had been reached. The terms were unclear.

PEOPLE has reached out to Allred for comment but has not immediately heard back in time for publication.

Allred told reporters earlier this year about what her client recalled of the alleged attack.

“She told him, ‘Please don’t do this,’” Allred said, according to AFP. “She alleges that he ignored her pleas.”

Allred added, “She also alleges that defendant Polanski removed plaintiff’s clothes and he proceeded to sexually assault her, causing her tremendous physical [and] emotional pain and suffering,” per AFP.

Polanski, who won the Best Director Oscar in 2003 for The Pianist, has had a controversial career in Hollywood.

Polanski was arrested in the U.S. for drugging and raping 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in 1977, PEOPLE previously reported. He pleaded guilty to statutory rape and went on to serve 42 days in jail as part of a plea bargain. 

He fled to France when ordered to serve the remainder of his 90-day sentence. Attempts by the U.S. to extradite him from Europe have been unsuccessful.

“I don’t carry feelings of anger towards Polanski,” Geimer told PEOPLE back in 1997. “I even have some sympathy for him, what with his mother dying in a concentration camp and then his wife Sharon Tate being murdered by Charles Manson’s people and spending the last 20 years as a fugitive. Life was hard for him, just like it was for me. He did something really gross to me, but it was the media that ruined my life.”

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Years prior, the filmmaker’s brief marriage to actress Sharon Tate became one of the most famous relationships in Hollywood history. It ended tragically in 1969 when Tate, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with the couple’s first child, was murdered in a horrific stabbing at their Los Angeles-area home by followers of cult leader Charles Manson.

In May 2018, Polanski was ousted by the AMPAS Board of Governors alongside Bill Cosby. In March 2020, Polanski’s last film, An Officer and a Spy, won the Best Picture César Award (France’s equivalent to the Best Picture Oscar) as well as the prize for Best Director.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.