Judge orders Kevin Spacey accuser to reveal himself in suit

Actor Kevin Spacey stands in district court during arraignment on a charge of indecent assault and battery on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, in Nantucket, Mass. The Oscar-winning actor is accused of groping the teenage son of a former Boston TV anchor in 2016 in the crowded bar at the Club Car in Nantucket. (Nicole Harnishfeger/The Inquirer and Mirror via AP, Pool)

NEW YORK — A man accusing Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey of sexually abusing him in the 1980s when he was 14 cannot proceed anonymously in court.

U-S District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan refused to let the man proceed only as "C.D." in a lawsuit filed in September in New York state court and later moved to federal court.

The man had met Spacey in the actor's suburban New York acting class before the alleged abuse, according to the lawsuit which seeks over 40-million dollars in damages.

Kaplan said C.D.'s privacy interest does not outweigh the presumption of open judicial proceedings and the prejudice to Spacey's defence that would occur if he could proceed anonymously.

The judge added that Individuals with information that might support Spacey also would not know to come forward.

The judge said since the 1990's, C.D. had spoken to an unknown number of people about his claims against Spacey and had apparently co-operated for a New York magazine article that appeared on an online website, "Vulture," in November 2017.

He 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."

Kaplan noted that C.D. also recruited for the lawsuit his co-plaintiff, Anthony Rapp, who has appeared in "Rent" on Broadway and in "Star Trek: Discovery" on television.

The lawsuit said the older actor made a sexual advance to a teenage Rapp at a 1980s party.

When Rapp first spoke publicly of his claim in 2017, others went public too and Spacey's then-celebrated career abruptly halted.

At the time, Spacey issued a statement saying he didn't remember the encounter but apologized.

The judge said claims by C.D.'s lawyers that using their client's name would trigger post traumatic stress disorder and the anxiety, nightmares and depression that come with it is a consequence that likely cannot be prevented as the case proceeds and C.D. is ultimately forced to testify in public.