(CNN) — Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey is “a sexual intimidator” and “a man who sexually assaults other men,” a British prosecutor alleged Friday at the start of a sexual assault trial in which he is charged with 12 offenses against four men.
Prosecutor Christine Agnew told jurors at London’s Southwark Crown Court that “House of Cards” actor Spacey, 63, is “a man who seems to delight in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual intimidator,” the PA Media news agency reported.
Agnew described to the jury incidents in which the actor allegedly assaulted men who were in their 20s and 30s at the time, including a whistleblower who claimed that “Spacey grabbed his penis with such force that it was painful,” and another who said that he had fallen asleep or passed out and woken up with Spacey performing oral sex on him, not stopping when the man asked him to stop.
He added that Spacey may have gotten a “sexual thrill from this type of sexual assault,” according to PA.
Spacey faces 12 charges: three of indecent assault, seven of sexual assault, one of forcing a person to have sex without consent and one of forcing a person to have penetrative sex without consent.
Spacey was indicted last year and has denied the allegations.
This Wednesday the members of the jury were selected for the trial, which was suspended until this Friday.
The charges relate to alleged incidents in and around London in the 2000s and early 2010s, during Spacey’s 12-year period as artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre.
The alleged victim of the 2005 incidents is now 40, while the two men allegedly involved in the 2008 and 2013 incidents are now 30, London’s Metropolitan Police said when filing the charges last year.
Spacey has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty.” He has returned to acting in recent years after leaving “House of Cards.” The actor starred in the Netflix series for five seasons before being fired in 2017 over allegations of inappropriate conduct on and off set.
Last year, a New York jury found him not liable for assault on allegations that he picked up actor Anthony Rapp and jumped on him after a party in 1986.
The trial in London continues.
