Ex-Fox exec denies allegations in sex abuse suit
Plaintiff Michael Egan III, right, 31, and his mother Bonnie Mound take questions from the media during a news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., Monday, April 21, 2014. Egan sued former TV programming executive Garth Ancier in Hawaii Monday, accusing him of abuse in 1999 when Egan was 17. AP
HONOLULU—A former Fox television executive on Tuesday denied allegations that he sexually abused a teen through a sex ring involving underage children.
Louise Ann Fernandez, a lawyer for Garth Ancier, said all the allegations made by Michael Egan III in a federal lawsuit filed in Hawaii are untrue. Fernandez said Ancier has never visited the estate in Hawaii where Egan claims he was molested.
“We are confident the courts will agree when the evidence is presented,” Fernandez said.
Egan made similar allegations last week when he sued “X-Men” director Bryan Singer.
Ancier and two other executives were sued Monday. The lawsuits say Egan was forced into sex during parties in California and Hawaii when he was 15 to 17 years old. Egan is now 31.
The Associated Press does not typically name victims of sex abuse but is naming Egan because he is speaking publicly about his allegations.
Ancier was a founding programmer at Fox who later created programming for The WB and was a top executive at NBC Entertainment. Egan also sued theater producer Gary Wayne Goddard and David A. Neuman, a former television executive with Current TV and Disney.
Alan Grodin, an attorney for Goddard, said the lawsuit has no merit.
Neuman could not be reached for comment. Phone numbers associated with him have been disconnected, and he did not immediately respond to a message sent through the social networking site LinkedIn.
The lawsuits were filed in Hawaii under a law that temporarily suspends the statute of limitations in civil sex abuse cases. None of the men has been criminally charged, and the statute of limitations for any such charges has passed.
Singer’s attorney, Marty Singer, has denied the director abused Egan and called the allegations defamatory.
Egan claims he was lured into a sex ring run by a former digital entertainment company executive with promises of auditions for acting, modeling and commercial jobs. He was put on the company’s payroll as an actor and forced to have sex with adult men at parties within Hollywood’s entertainment industry, the lawsuit said.
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