Actor Armie Hammer will not face any charges in the sexual assault case brought against him in 2021.
The star of The Social Network was accused of rape and physically abusive behaviour by a woman with whom he had been in an on-and-off relationship for four years.
The Los Angeles county district attorney’s office has decided not to pursue the case after an extensive investigation.
“In this case, those prosecutors conducted an extremely thorough review, but determined that at this time, there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr Hammer with a crime,” the office said. “As prosecutors, we have an ethical responsibility to only charge cases that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt … Due to the complexity of the relationship and inability to prove a non-consensual, forcible sexual encounter, we are unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The accuser, known as Effie, had reported the actor to the police in February 2021 after claiming he raped her in 2017 and had subjected her to abuse on other occasions. “I thought he was going to kill me,” she said during a press conference.
Her claims came amid a flurry of other stories involving Hammer engaging in BDSM activities with other women with accusations of behaviour that went too far. Hammer has since admitted that the “power dynamics were off” and that he acted like “an asshole” but that the relationships were consensual.
“Every single thing was discussed beforehand,” he said in an interview with Air Mail. “I have never thrust this on someone unexpectedly. Never.”
His lawyer called Effie’s accusations “attention-seeking and ill-advised”.
In his recent interview, Hammer added: “I had a very intense and extreme lifestyle. I would scoop up these women, bring them into it – into this whirlwind of travel and sex and drugs and big emotions flying around – and then as soon as I was done, I’d just drop them off and move on to the next woman, leaving that woman feeling abandoned or used.”
He also claimed that he was sexually abused by a youth pastor at the age of 13 which he believes led to his interest in BDSM as he felt “powerless” at the time. “I had no agency in the situation,” he said. “My interests then went to: I want to have control in the situation, sexually.”
Hammer was dropped by his agency and his role opposite Jennifer Lopez in the action comedy Shotgun Wedding was recast. He has claimed to now be “broke” and “massively in debt”.
