Kevin Spacey must pay over $30 million to House of Cards producer, judge rules

Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey must pay over $30 million to the producer of House of Cards after he was fired for alleged sexual misconduct in 2017, a judge has ruled.

An arbitrator previously found that Spacey breached his contract with MRC, the production company behind the Netflix series, by violating its sexual harassment policy, and he was ordered to pay almost $31 million. Spacey fought to overturn this decision, but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mel Red Recana has now confirmed he must pay that amount, Variety reports. According to The Associated Press, the judge said the actor's legal team failed "to demonstrate that this is even a close case."

Spacey was fired from House of Cards in 2017 after facing allegations of sexual harassment and assault, including from actor Anthony Rapp. When he was fired, production on the final season of House of Cards had already started. But it had to be rewritten to excise his character, the protagonist of the series. MRC argued it lost millions of dollars as a result of Spacey's firing, which also led to a shorter season.

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The production company also said its investigation found Spacey "breached provisions of both the acting and executive producing agreements that set standards for his workplace conduct," and he has been accused of harassing multiple crew members on the show. Spacey, meanwhile, filed a counterclaim alleging MRC owed him money.

The ruling comes after Spacey was recently hit with new charges in the U.K., where he's accused of sexually assaulting three men. He has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty.