In the lawsuit against X-Men director Bryan Singer, some of the most explosive allegations took place in Hawaii. There, Michael Egan alleged, Singer and others drugged and raped him. But in a deposition taken for a previous lawsuit after the rapes allegedly happened, Egan stated under oath that he had never left the continental United States.
A portion of this 2003 deposition, obtained by BuzzFeed Tuesday, directly contradicts a major part of Egan's current lawsuit, which has riveted Hollywood for weeks and brought to the surface a slew of sexual abuse allegations against other movie-industry figures.
In a lawsuit filed last month, Egan claimed that Singer repeatedly raped and sexually abused him. Some of those attacks allegedly occurred in Encino, Calif. But many others allegedly took place in 1999 in the seven-bedroom Paul Mitchell Estate in Kailua, on the outskirts of Honolulu. There, according to the complaint filed last month in federal court in Hawaii, Egan "was required to interact" with Singer, who allegedly provided him with cocaine, Xanax, Rohypnol, Vicodin, Percocet, alcohol, and a mysterious pill called "green triangle," which the complaint indicates may have been ecstasy.
But Egan said he had never left the continental United States with Singer and the other defendants, according to six pages of the 84-page deposition, which raises questions as to how he could have been in Hawaii in 1999.
Asked during the deposition whether he had taken any trips outside the continental United States, Egan replied, "Never had any trips outside the continental U.S., no." Egan then responds to a question specifically clarifying that he had never traveled to Hawaii.
"I'm not sure how he interpreted the continental United States," Egan's lawyer, Jeff Herman, said of the portion of the deposition. "I'm not sure what he's talking about specifically here."
Herman said that Egan's mother, Bonnie Mound, told him that she had authorized either Marc Collins-Rector or Chad Shackley — both plaintiffs in the previous lawsuit — to take Egan to Hawaii on at least two occasions. Mound clarified this because, during the deposition, Egan explained that he had never traveled outside the continental United States because his mother would not approve such trips.
Herman said he also confirmed the trips with Egan.
That deposition was given in Los Angeles County during settlement proceedings for an earlier round of lawsuits. Those suits were were not directed against Singer. Instead, Egan and four co-plaintiffs had sued internet entrepreneurs Collins-Rector, Brock Pierce, and Shackley, who often hosted parties in their Encino mansion that drew young men and Hollywood figures.
In his lawsuit filed last month, Egan alleged that he had been abused not only in Hawaii, but also at that Encino mansion — allegations that are not undermined by the newly obtained deposition. There, according to the complaint, Singer "forcibly sodomized Egan."
But from a legal standpoint, the Hawaii allegations are crucial to the suit. Egan was able to file suit in Hawaii because of a law there that extended the statute of limitations for older cases such as Egan's. The extended deadline was April 24, 2014. Egan's complaint was filed on April 16, 2014.
Egan is suing Singer for damages "exceeding $75,000."
Marty Singer, counsel for Bryan Singer (no relation), did not comment on the revelations in the deposition.