Polanski agreed to pay victim $500,000

LOS ANGELES – Film director Roman Polanski agreed to pay his sexual assault victim $500,000 to settle a lawsuit 15 years after he fled the United States, according to court documents provided to media outlets Friday.

Polanski and the victim, Samantha Geimer, reached the deal in October 1993. The terms of the settlement were confidential.

Court records do not indicate if Polanski, now 76, ever paid. The last court filing in August 1996 shows Polanski owed Geimer $604,416.22, including interest.

Polanski was accused of plying Geimer, then a 13-year-old girl, with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill during a modeling shoot in 1977 and raping her.

Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse and a judge sent him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. However, he was released after 42 days by an evaluator who deemed him mentally sound and unlikely to offend again.

The judge responded by saying he was going to send Polanski back to jail for the remainder of the 90 days and that afterward he would ask Polanski to agree to a “voluntary deportation.” Polanski then fled the country the night before he was scheduled to be sentenced, Feb. 1, 1978.