James Franco Settles Sexual Misconduct Lawsuit

James Franco is settling.

A settlement deal has been reached in a 2019 lawsuit alleging that the 42-year-old actor intimidated his students into sexual situations at the acting school he founded, according to Variety on Sunday (February 21).

In a joint status report, two of the actor’s former students at his Studio 4 school, which is no longer running, agreed to drop their claims. The sexual exploitation claims are being dismissed without prejudice, meaning they can be re-filed. Fraud allegations included in the suit will be subject to limited release.

It is not known how much money was involved in the settlement deal.

In the class-action suit, the former students claimed that James forced his students to perform explicit sex scenes on camera in an “orgy-type setting” during a master class, and that he allegedly led students to believe that roles in his films would become available to them if they followed along.

His attorneys responded to the claims in a previous filing, calling them “false and inflammatory, legally baseless and brought as a class action with the obvious goal of grabbing as much publicity as possible for attention-hungry Plaintiffs.”

The deal will be submitted for preliminary court approval by March 15, according to the report. Click here to see the full agreement.

James’ name was recently brought up in a high-profile celebrity libel trial. Find out what happened and why…

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