The former child actor made headlines earlier in 2014 when he sued X-men director Bryan Singer for childhood sexual abuse. Now he is being charged with wire fraud in a federal court.
Michael Egan at an April 17 press conference in Beverly Hills.
The Associated Press
Michael Egan, the former child actor who in April 2014 accused X-Men director Bryan Singer of childhood sexual abuse, was indicted for wire and securities fraud in a federal court in North Carolina earlier this month.
The criminal indictment, filed on December 16 in the U.S. District Court in Charlotte and first reported by TMZ, said Egan "fraudulently induced victims to invest money for" businesses like holiday-themes attractions and television shows.
"Instead of using the money as agreed upon, and repaying the investment, Egan stole a majority of the money to fund his lifestyle," the indictment said.
Egan's attorney, Mark Foster, denied all allegations against his client and said that he intended to take the case to trial.
"Our position is he is not guilty," Foster told BuzzFeed News. "There was no intention to defraud. We'll fight this all the way."
According to the indictment, Egan allegedly falsified bank documents to show that he had more than $13 million in assets, when in reality he had less than $11,000. He would then allegedly convince people to invest money in business that included "Halloween themed attractions, holiday themed attractions, and television shows."
Instead of actually investing the assets, the indictment alleges, "Egan used the vast majority of the money [...] to pay expenses such as rent, car lease, groceries, restaurants, medical bills, and pet care."
The exact charges against Egan are one count each of wire fraud and securities fraud. If found guilty, he could be fined millions of dollars and spend up to 45 years in prison.
Earlier this year, Egan made headlines after he filed a number of civil lawsuits accusing several Hollywood figures — including Singer — of sexually abusing him when he was underage.
The highly-publicized suits rocked the entertainment world, and brought renewed attention to a decade-old scandal centering around Marc Collins-Rector, an Internet entrepreneur and convicted sex-offender who threw lavish parties where powerful Hollywood men allegedly had sex with underage boys.
But then Egan's cases began to fall apart after he was found to have made contradictory statements in an earlier sexual assault lawsuit against Collins-Rector. He has since had a falling out with his attorney and dropped his civil lawsuits against Singer and the others.
Read the whole indictment here
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1zif1M8
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