A mediator requires Kevin Spacey to pay nearly $31 million to the studio that produced the hit Netflix show “House of Cards”, MRC. According to the BBC, the secret ruling was made last year, but became public only on Monday (22 November) after lawyers of MRC filed a court petition to confirm it. 

Spacey, who was the lead character in the show for five seasons, was accused of a breach of contract following sexual harassment allegations. 

MRC filed the lawsuit in January 2019, seeking to recover the costs and arguing that Spacey's behaviour violated the studio's sexual harassment policy. The mediator concluded that Spacey fails to provide services “in a professional manner”, “consistent with [MRC’s] reasonable directions, practices and policies,” including its anti-harassment policies.

The actor was accused of creating a "toxic" work environment on set by allegedly making crude comments and touching young staffers without their consent. 

Here is the timeline of Spacey’s sexual misconducts allegations:

Spacey was one of the first major Hollywood figures to be publicly accused of misconduct in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal in 2017. During that time, the #MeToo movement also gained momentum.

Spacey’s sexual allegations cases started off on 29 October 2017 when actor Anthony Rapp said in an interview with Buzzfeed News that in 1986, when he was 14, a then-26-year-old Spacey climbed on top of him in a bed after a party and made a sexual advance.

The next day, Spacey posted an apology statement on Twitter, saying that he did not remember such an incident and it might be a “deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour”. He came out as a gay man in the statement, which sparked a strong objection from the LGBT community as he conflated alleged pedophilia with homosexuality.

On the same day (30 October 2017), actor Roberto Cavazos posted on his Facebook account that he had a "couple of unpleasant encounters" with Spacey when the two were performing at the Old Vic, saying that he was “being squeezed” by Spacey in the Old Vic bar.

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences on 31 October tweeted that they will not honour Spacey with the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award “in light of recent events”.

On 2 November, Spacey announced that he will take a break and on the same day, his longtime talent agency, Creative Artists Agency, severed ties with him. The next day, Netflix followed suit and ended its relationship with Spacey.

More allegations were made against him. On 8 November 2017, former ABC Boston affiliate anchor Heather Unruh accused Spacey of groping her son at a Nantucket bar in 2016. It was followed by an allegation made by filmmaker Tony Montana accusing Spacey of groping him in 2003.

On 16 November, at least 20 young men came forward at London’s Old Vic theatre to report alleged sexual misconduct by Spacey. In January 2018, the “House of Cards” decided to resume its production without Spacey. 

In April 2018, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office announced that it is investigating a sexual assault allegation against Spacey from 1992. In September, however, it announced that Spacey will not face any charge due to statute of limitations. 

In September 2018, Spacey was sued by a masseuse who said that the actor sexually assaulted him during a session in Malibu in October 2016. Spacey's attorneys, however, claimed that the encounter was consensual. The accuser died before the case reached the court. 

On 24 December 2018, Spacey faced another accusation that he sexually assaulted a teenager at a bar in Massachusetts back in 2016. He, however, posted a video where he denied any wrongdoing while in character as Frank Underwood from “House of Cards”.

Fast forward to 26 June 2019, Spacey's accuser in the 2016 Nantucket groping case sued the actor for unspecified damages. He, again, denied the accusation. After two years of legal battle behind closed doors, a mediator ruled that Kevin Spacey must pay MRC nearly $31 million for his sexual misconducts.