Polanski Agreed to $500,000 Civil Suit Settlement

Court documents show that Oscar-winning film director Roman Polanski agreed years ago to pay the victim in his sexual assault case more than a half million dollars to settle a civil suit.

Court records reviewed Friday in Los Angeles indicate the confidential agreement was reached in 1993, five years after the victim filed the suit accusing Polanski of sexual assault and inflicting emotional distress.

It is not clear if Polanski ever paid the settlement amount.

The last court filing in the case in 1996 shows Polanski owed more than $600,000, including interest. The records show that attorneys for the victim then tried to garnish Polanski's wages from movie studios and his agent.

Polanski, famed for such films as Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby, was arrested in the late 1970s in Los Angeles. He was charged with giving drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl and having unlawful sex with her. He fled the United States in 1978 after pleading guilty.

Polanski won an Academy Award in 2003 for the film The Pianist, but did not return to Hollywood to receive the Oscar.

Since then, the victim, now in her 40s, says she does not want him to be jailed.

Earlier this year, a judge in Los Angeles rejected the fugitive's bid to dismiss the case, despite new evidence showing the original trial judge colluded illegally with prosecutors in 1978.

In his ruling, the new judge said there appeared to be substantial judicial misconduct in the original case. However, he said he could not rule on Polanski's dismissal bid until the director returned from exile.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.