Oscar winning film director Paul
Haggis was cleared of rape by a judge in Puglia Tuesday evening.
Canadian Haggis, 72, who won two Oscars for writing and
directing Crash in 2006, spent 14 days under house arrest in
June 2022 after a 30-year-old British woman accused him of
raping her in a B&B over three days ahead of a film festival at
Ostuni.
"For Haggis, it is the end of a nightmare that unfairly ended
the career of a cinema genius, Oscar winner in 2006, director
and screenwriter appreciated throughout the world", said his
lawyers.
Haggis also wrote Oscar winning Clint Eastwood and Hilary Swank
boxing and end-of-life drama Million Dollar Baby in 2004, the
same year he directed Crash.
He also co-wrote Eastwoods Iwo Jima WWII drama Flags of our
Fathers in 2006, as well as Bond films Casino Royale and Quantum
of Solace.
In November 2022, Haggis was found liable in a civil trial which
alleged he raped publicist Haleigh Breest in 2018, and was
required to pay $10 million in damages.
Three other women subsequently made sexual-misconduct
allegations against Haggis, and his career was ended amid a
#MeToo furore.
In the Puglia case, prosecutors had previously asked for charges
to be dismissed.
The final verdict was issued by a preliminary investigations
judge, or GIP, in Brindisi.
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