Polanski Agreed To Pay Victim $500,000 US

 

CBC News With files from The Associated Press

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Film director Roman Polanski leaves court on Oct. 25, 1977, in Santa Monica, Calif. He has been on the run since fleeing charges of having sex with a minor. (Nick Ut/Associated Press)Court records show film director Roman Polanski, who was arrested in Switzerland last Saturday and is fighting extradition to the U.S. for having sex with a minor, had agreed to pay his victim more than $500,000 US to settle a lawsuit.

A $500,000 deal was hammered out 15 years after he fled the U.S. in 1978. But it appears the director did not pay up on the initial deal. The last court filing, in 1996, shows a judge boosted the required payment, which includes interest, to $604,000. 

Samantha Geimer, shown in 2008, has pleaded for the courts to drop charges against Polanski, who admitted having sex with her when she was only 13. (Peter Kramer/File/AP)

Polanski pleaded guilty in a California court 32 years ago for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl he had drugged. He fled before he was sentenced and has lived in France for more than 30 years.

The 76-year-old director is fighting extradition from Switzerland to the United States.

He was taken into police custody after arriving at Zurich's airport on Sept. 26. Polanski was there to attend a film festival that was honouring him with a retrospective and a lifetime award.

Officials in the U.S. said the filmmaker had been on an Interpol wanted list for years. The U.S. has 60 days from the arrest to file for extradition.

Samantha Geimer, Polanski's victim, has long identified herself publicly. She sued the director in 1988, alleging emotional distress, sexual assault and seduction.
Geimer says she received a settlement but has never divulged the amount.

She has also implored American authorities to drop charges against Polanski, saying she wanted to get on with her life and didn't want details of the sexual assault to be repeated over and over.