Following the accounts of four women who allege that they were raped and sexually assaulted by Ed Westwick, the 30-year-old actor is now officially under investigation.
According to Deadline, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office has confirmed the former Gossip Girl star is under investigation for alleged sex crimes.
“I can confirm that a case was presented to our office involving Ed Westwick,” a spokesperson for the DA’s office told the publication.
“The matter is under review. The District Attorney’s office does not identify victims of sex crimes and, therefore, cannot provide any information on who the allegations involve.”
Prior to the investigation, Westwick had defended himself against the allegations on social media, but those posts have since been deleted.
While quick to post denials of any wrongdoing at the time, he was reportedly advised to remove the posts by his lawyer in the wake of the investigation.
“It has come to the attention of investigators that Mr Westwick has removed denials about alleged rapes of the victims in this investigation from his social media accounts that he had posted last November,” a law enforcement source told Us Weekly, as reported by Page Six.
Actress Kristina Cohen was the first woman to come forward, when in November, she claimed she had been raped by Westwick after attending a dinner at his house with her boyfriend three years earlier.
Westwick had allegedly propositioned both her and her boyfriend for a threesome, and although she turned him down, her boyfriend had insisted they stay a little longer so as not to make him “feel awkward”.
Cohen then went for a nap in the guest bedroom, as directed by Westwick, and later awoke to find him on top of her.
“I told him to stop, but he was strong,” she wrote on Facebook.
“I was paralysed, terrified. I couldn’t speak, I could no longer move. He held me down and raped me.”
Shortly after her comments were made public, Westwick responded with a denial.
“I do not know this woman. I have never forced myself in any manner, on any woman. I certainly have never committed rape,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
Just days after Cohen’s allegations surfaced, another woman, Aurélie Wynn, came forward with similar accusations.
Wynn claimed she had also been raped by the actor after falling asleep in a spare bedroom following a party.
Westwick again denied the allegations levelled against him.
“It is disheartening and sad to me that as a result of two unverified and provably untrue social media claims, there are some in this environment who could ever conclude I have had anything to do with such vile and horrific conduct,” he commented in another since-deleted tweet.
“I have absolutely not, and I am cooperating with the authorities so that they can clear my name as soon as possible.”
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Days after that, a third woman, Rachel Eck, claimed Westwick had assaulted her at a Hollywood hotel the night before the 2014 Oscars.
“[He] pulled me onto the bed and aggressively groped me. I shoved him off as quickly as I could and left,” she told Buzzfeed, as reported by Deadline.
And earlier this month, a fourth woman, Haley Camille Freedman, claimed in court papers Westwick had held her captive and repeatedly raped her over a two-day period after she met the star on a night out.
Westwick is yet to comment on the investigation.