abuse

JONATHAN Ross has broken his silence after sex abuse claims emerged against David Walliams and Russell Brand was convicted of rape – saying he is “horrified”.

The presenter said he was friendly with both men at one time but said he had been “genuinely unaware of their conduct”.

Walliams was yesterday named as the celebrity accused of preying on young girls and employees.

The Little Britain star had attempted to block Independent Television News (ITN), which produces news programmes for ITV and Channel 4 and Guardian News and Media, publisher of The Guardian, from publishing the claims against him.

A three-year joint investigation by ITV News and the Guardian has now revealed allegations dating back as far as 2003 against the star.

Walliams has been accused of preying on young girls for sexual purposes – including two as young as 15.

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One of the schoolgirls said an alleged encounter amounted to “sexual assault” and claims he told her to wait until she was 16 for sex.

Multiple women have also claimed they were “groomed” by the star when they were teens and have painted the star as “pushy” and “predatory”.

Walliams denies any wrongdoing and insists he is “not a sexual predator”.

Ross had come under fire after a 2004 clip of him making a joke about Walliams having sex with a teenager went viral.

He told the audience: “The Comedy Awards is 15 years old. 15 years old.

“And like all 15-year-olds, it’s drunk, it’s unpredictable and it’s probably going home with David Walliams.”

It is understood Ross did not write the joke, but simply delivered it.

On Tuesday night the presenter broke his silence on the sex claims against Walliams and Russell Brand‘s rape conviction, saying his “thoughts are with the many, many women who have bravely come forward”.

Ross called the 2004 joke “tasteless”, saying: “I recognise how deeply shocking it is to revisit footage of a joke delivered by me at the Comedy Awards in 2004, in which I make light of the notion of Walliams going home with a 15-year-old.

“This joke was submitted to me by the Comedy Awards script writing team and I believed that the punchline was a reference to the fact he had publicly dated younger women, exaggerated for comic effect.

“It is also a tasteless joke that I would not dream of making today about anyone, but that is beside the point.

“Had I had any reason to suspect that it might be referring to actual events, I would not only have refused to use it, but I would not have felt comfortable continuing a personal or professional relationship with him.

“I also like to think that I would have acted upon that knowledge.”

The presenter has also faced scrutiny over his past association with Brand, who was handed a 10-and-a-half year jail sentence on Monday for raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others.

Brand and Ross appeared on several TV shows together and both were caught in a scandal in 2008 when they left a series of vulgar voicemails on BBC Radio 2 in 2008.

The pair left messages for actor Andrew Sachs, making explicit comments about a relationship between Brand and his granddaughter Georgina Baillie.

At one point, Ross explicitly shouted, “He f***ed your granddaughter!”

The scandal, which became known as Sachsgate, saw Brand resign from the BBC and Ross suspended from his TV show for three months.

Sachs’ granddaughter Georgina was just 20 at the time of the fling, and said she was “completely dazzled by celebrity”.

Brand is facing multiple fresh allegations in the wake of his 10 year jail sentence as cops reveal “several” people have come forward.

After the 51-year-old was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, it was revealed that more women had come forward.

Prosecutors are assessing whether to bring further charges against the convicted rapist.

The Guardian reported that at least 10 more women are suspected of having been attacked by Brand.

Ross, Brand and Noel Fielding appeared on Channel 4’s Big Fat Quiz of the Year together in 2007, in which Brand made jokes about rape later described by fellow panellist Lily Allen as “really horrendous”.

In the episode, Ross moves Lily, then just 21, away from Brand and Fielding.

Ross explained: “I’m a bit concerned because look where you’ve put us – you’ve put the only sexually attractive young lady – near two of the best known cocksmen of the business.”

“I’m going to insist as a sort of uncle figure in Lily’s life that she moves over there. And then, Lily might go home with her dress still on.”

Walliams has denied the allegations against him, saying: “Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with… I realise I did not always take people’s feelings properly into account. That is something I regret.

“And whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something that I never did…

“I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law… I am devastated that some of the women I met ten to twenty years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.”

During private meetings with survivors, Pope Leo XIV pledged to reinforce safeguards and listen to victims.

Pope Leo XIV has met with five survivors of clerical sexual abuse on the second day of his historic visit to Argentina.

The private meetings in Buenos Aires on Monday were the first of several talks the pope is planning to hold with abuse survivors during his 12-day tour of Latin America, according to the Vatican.

“The Pope spoke individually with each of them, listened to their words and to the painful stories of their experiences, as well as to their proposals for strengthening paths towards healing within the Church,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The closed-door meetings followed a historic open-air mass that drew an estimated 2.5 million people to Avenida del Libertador, a major boulevard in the capital, at the Monumento de los Espanoles. It was the country’s first papal liturgy in nearly 40 years.

The meetings with survivors respond to the pope’s desire to “express his closeness to those who have suffered”, build paths to healing and ensure the church is a safe and “spiritually healthy” place, the Holy See Press Office said in October.

Leo, the first pope born in the United States, has consistently met with survivors during foreign visits as part of a wider outreach aiming to repair global relations and restore the Catholic Church’s credibility. Lawsuits, widespread sexual abuse and cover-ups have sullied its reputation over the last three decades.

While clergy abuse cases are difficult to track globally, a 2021 independent inquiry found there were an estimated 216,000 victims of the French Catholic Church’s clergy alone between 1950 and 2020. Earlier research found more than 10,600 people were abused by Catholic priests in the US between 1950 and 2002, while Australia counted 6,875 victims of Catholic clergy, religious and lay church workers between 1980 and 2015, according to a 2019 German study.

During the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, Leo, 71, listened to victims’ testimonies and reiterated his pledge to strengthen safeguarding in the Catholic Church. Before being named pope, Leo served as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Argentina is the second stop on Leo’s three-country tour, which began in Uruguay and will wrap up in Peru.

His visit was the first by a pontiff since Pope John Paul II’s trip in 1987.

Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Nathan “Nate” Ballard, a former aide sentenced in connection with a domestic violence case, to the State Historical Resources Commission.

Ballard, 57, of Mill Valley, will serve alongside eight other commissioners tasked with designating state historical landmarks and preserving the state’s cultural heritage, following the appointment made Friday evening.

In 2020, Ballard was arrested after an incident at an upscale resort where the Napa County district attorney’s office said he pushed his then-wife into a glass door and held a pillow over his four-year-old daughter’s head. The following year, he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor corporal injury against his spouse and child endangerment, according to court records.

He was sentenced to four years’ probation and initially ordered to stay away from his ex-wife and two children for six years, which was later reduced to two years, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Ballard was Newsom’s communications director from 2007 to 2010, when the outgoing governor was mayor of San Francisco. He previously worked in similar roles for the Democratic National Committee and the California Democratic Party, and as John Kerry’s California press secretary during his 2004 presidential run. He now works as an attorney in private practice and runs a public relations firm.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Newsom said the governor “considers the experience, qualifications and suitability for each post in making appointments.”

“He believes that abuse of any individual is unacceptable, and that those who commit such conduct should face accountability,” the statement continued. “He also believes in second chances.”

Ballard, who grew up in Davis, told The Times he applied for the position and looks forward to returning to public service. He described the need “to preserve the things that we love so much about California, and also to alleviate some of the pressures that we’re feeling on housing costs.”

Ballard added that he and the governor have known each other for decades and worked together through “tough times.”

“It’s no surprise that my appointment is a little controversial and I’m grateful to have his support,” he said.

Some have criticized the governor’s move.

Ivy Lee, the head of the San Francisco Mayor’s Office for Victims’ Rights, told Mission Local, which broke the story, “Why elevate perpetrators of abuse?”

“When people in power do that, it shows us what they really think about survivors. And it’s not much,” she said. “Survivors deserve better.”

Nadia Rahman, former president of the San Francisco Women’s Political Committee, told the outlet that the appointment was “egregious.”

“He should not be appointed to a body,” she said. “This sets him off on a road of normalizing his behavior and reintroducing him to powerful political circles in California.”

During a long career in politics, “I didn’t think twice about exploiting my opponent’s biggest weakness when I was in the middle of a policy battle,” Ballard said when asked about the pushback. “So when I hear somebody speaking up with conviction about an issue like this, I understand where they’re coming from.”

Abuse of players, particularly by angry gamblers, is not a new problem.

Burrage’s compatriot Katie Boulter shared with the BBC last year the abuse and death threats she received on a near-daily basis.

This year’s WTA and World Tennis report into online abuse, which was based on data from the Signify Group’s Threat Matrix service, said “angry gamblers” were responsible for 42% of all verified abuse detected during the 2025 season.

It is why there is so much disquiet about the sponsorship deals some tournaments have struck with gambling firms.

The Davis Cup, for example, has an official sports betting partner, while in August self-described “prediction-market platform” Kalshi signed a multi-year deal with the US Open.

Burrage believes social media platforms “should do more to help”.

“I think an ID should be put on every Instagram account, and then that way it makes more people more accountable for their actions on that platform,” she said.

“I think it would limit what people would say. People should be accountable for what they say and that’s where I think there could be more of a push to change.

“It’s only getting worse.”

All WTA and World Tennis players have access to Threat Matrix’s services, which monitor all social media posts directed at players.

The first aim is to provide a rapid assessment of whether an individual’s safety is under threat. They can then alert the platforms, and potentially law enforcement agencies, to the offending content.

Names can also be shared with gaming companies, so they have the option of banning offenders from their platforms.

The service can extend to direct messages and even the moderation of accounts, so players never see the message in the first place. But this is not foolproof – and players may feel they would rather know about any threats made against them.

Burrage has recently been able to improve her singles ranking to 474, from a low of 888 in July. Injury prevented her playing singles for nine months and when she returned for the grass court season, sickness held her back.

But she will not allow the abuse to throw her off course.

“I’m at a place where it’s all bigger picture for me and everything I’m doing now is to have a good season in 2027,” she added.

“I’m building a team that is really good around me. They know where I’ve been, what I’ve gone through.

“It’s not what you want, but if I have to go through it, then I will.”

The settlement is the second-largest after an $880m ​deal reached by the Archdiocese of Los ​Angeles in 2024.

The Archdiocese of New York has agreed to pay more than $800m to settle the legal claims of about 1,300 survivors of sexual abuse by clergy.

New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks said on Saturday that the settlement will be formally signed on November 6 after an agreement with the plaintiffs and their lawyers.

“We are on the verge of being able to, please God, bring some measure of healing and reconciliation to all victim-survivors,” he wrote in an email sent to his priests and shared by the archdiocese’s news outlet.

“This agreement will also allow the archdiocese to turn its full attention once again to its mission of preaching the Gospel, healing the sick, caring for the poor and needy, welcoming the stranger, and educating our children,” he added.

According to The New York Times, which broke the story, each of the approximately 1,300 survivors will receive at least $250,000 from the Archdiocese of New York and potentially more depending on the severity of the abuse suffered.

The settlement is the second-largest of its kind after an $880m deal reached by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2024.

“The unanimous agreement of survivors who filed claims against the Archdiocese of New York marks a powerful moment in the pursuit of justice,” Jeff Anderson, a lawyer representing people who filed more than 1,000 claims against the Catholic Church in New York state, said in a statement.

“Through their courage, sacrifice, and determination, survivors have helped bring about a reckoning and a meaningful step toward accountability.”

Scandals and settlements

The agreement marks the end of years of negotiations with lawyers representing the plaintiffs, as the Catholic Church in the United States has been mired in sexual abuse scandals since the early 2000s.

In the 2000s, media investigations revealed that Catholic priests in the US had committed sexual abuse against thousands of children over several decades, and that church leaders had often covered up these cases or transferred the offending priests instead of reporting them to civil authorities.

Dioceses across the country have had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, and programmes have been created to compensate survivors without going to trial.

In June, the Archdiocese of San Francisco announced it had reached an agreement to pay $395m to about 530 survivors of sexual abuse committed by its clergy to settle their lawsuits.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — President Trump said Thursday that Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for Ohio governor, should keep running a controversial ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic opponent Amy Acton, posting on social media that it was “hitting pay dirt.”

Trump also denounced Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who criticized the ad as “deeply, deeply troubling” earlier in the day. Acton previously served in DeWine’s administration as a health official. Her mother lost custody of Acton and her brother after her husband — the children’s stepfather — was indicted on a charge of raping Acton.

“He strongly suggested that Vivek should, ‘take down the Ad,’ ” Trump wrote. “He probably wants a Dumocrat to win, and certainly doesn’t want someone who will do a much better job than he is capable of doing. I suggested, on the other hand, that Vivek should keep it up, and let everyone listen to the mother of a defective, dishonest, and incapable Candidate, explain how the daughter is a DISASTER who, uncontrollably, lies, cheats, and steals!”

At a gathering with reporters at the Ohio Statehouse, DeWine recalled the painful experiences of rape victims he dealt with as a county prosecutor and state attorney general.

“It’s wrong to run this ad,” he said. “And, even at this late time — my wife, Fran, saw the ad just run this morning on TV — I would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to take this down.”

The term-limited DeWine’s remarks place him at odds with Ramaswamy, whom he has endorsed. The biotech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate plans to spend $4 million to broadcast it online and on television.

DeWine stops short of pulling his endorsement

But the governor stopped short of pulling his backing of the Republican for now. DeWine recalled a previous line of attack by the Acton campaign had mentioned Ramaswamy’s mother and said that also was wrong — “family members have always historically been off limits” — though he noted it was never used in a multimillion-dollar ad campaign.

That critique from the summer cited an investigative report into Geetha Ramaswamy’s role at a pharmaceutical company run by her son, whom Acton and Democrats described as “hiring his own mother to manipulate clinical trial data.”

The Ramaswamy campaign called those claims “slanderous” and said he’s being held to a different standard than Acton and other Democrats who have attacked Republicans’ families.

“Governor DeWine is correct that the first and only candidate to attack the mother of her opponent in this race was Amy Acton,” spokesperson Connie Luck said in a statement, adding, “We refuse to accept the media’s double standards.”

Ohio Republicans divided over the ad

By chiming in, DeWine has entered the fray of a growing rift among Ohio Republicans over the advertisement — as both the governor’s race and a race for U.S. Senate appear far tighter than expected in a state Trump won handily three times. The video features Acton’s birth mother, Donna Arthur, calling her “a liar” and insinuating she has mental health issues.

Acton, Ohio’s COVID-19-era health director, has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather, Arthur’s husband, was indicted on a charge of rape involving Acton. Acton’s campaign on Tuesday posted a video of her brother, who supported her backstory about living in a tent and being abused.

Republican Vice President JD Vance, an Ohio native son, expressed disgust during an Ohio campaign swing Wednesday with Republicans “whining” about the ad as low and in poor taste. But Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, DeWine’s former lieutenant governor — running in a tight retention race against Democrat Sherrod Brown — has said he would not have run the ad, as has Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is running for state auditor.

Another influential Ohio Republican, former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, posted a lengthy essay on X overnight, suggesting that “the floor may have just fallen out from under the Republican campaign for Ohio Governor” and urging every Republican to distance themselves from it.

Amid the turmoil, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou posted what sounded like a warning, or a threat.

“The final days of a tough campaign are always the best time to find out who is really with you and who just posts and pretends,” he wrote. “Yes—we are keeping score.” The quote was followed by a winking-eye emoji.

Ad has faced bipartisan rebukes, support in conservative media

The ad is also dividing Republicans nationally.

Nikki Haley, who sparred with Ramaswamy during the 2024 Republican presidential primary over the personal nature of his attacks, called him “a bad guy” in a social media post Tuesday. “It’s a shame he continues to get away with it,” she wrote.

At the same time, Media Matters for America, a left-leaning media watchdog group, has reported that many within the national conservative media are promoting and praising the ad. Ramaswamy’s campaign manager, Jonathan Ewing, characterized it as “a campaign-ending moment for Amy Acton.”

Wayne Allyn Root, of Gateway Pundit, called it “absolutely hilarious” and Daily Wire host Michael Knowles described it as “brilliant.”

Police and court records show Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with the rape of Acton in July 1978, when she was 12, after her biological father lodged a formal complaint against him. The abuse allegedly happened from December 1976 to April 1978. Cledith Arthur failed to show for a court appearance and became a fugitive.

Donna Arthur remained married to him until his death in 2004.

Smyth writes for the Associated Press.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican Vivek Ramaswamy ’s team confirmed late Tuesday that it produced a controversial advertisement featuring the estranged mother of Amy Acton, and the campaign said it will spend $4 million to promote it despite facing bipartisan rebuke for dredging up the painful childhood of his Democratic opponent in Ohio’s governor’s race.

The decision exacerbates a deeply personal element in one of the country’s most closely watched and expensive campaigns for state office. Questions about the video will likely shadow Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire who previously ran for president but has never before held public office, in the final two weeks of the contest. Democrats said he was growing desperate at a moment when more than 676,000 people have already cast ballots in Ohio.

The advertisement features Acton’s birth mother, Donna Arthur, calling her “a liar” and insinuating she has mental health issues. Acton, Ohio’s former public health director, has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather was indicted for raping Acton.

The video’s origins were initially murky when it started circulating online. It first surfaced in a post by an Ohio political blogger, then spread across social media. It did not include the “paid for” tag that is legally required to air on television so viewers can know who produced and paid for it. D.J. Brynes, who blogs as “The Rooster,” told CNN he got the video from a voter who viewed it as part of a poll and recorded it.

Connie Luck, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy’s campaign, said Acton’s mother was not paid for the one-minute video, which she said will stream online and air on television.

Acton spent Tuesday condemning Ramaswamy for the ad even before his campaign confirmed its provenance.

“I won’t normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is just something I’m complaining about, who today just released an ad using my birth mother, who I was removed from at the age of 12 for severe abuse and neglect, and sexual abuse,” she told Spectrum News, a cable news outlet in Ohio.

She said Ramaswamy made similar personal attacks during his run for the Republican presidential nomination two years ago, calling it “a lifelong pattern.”

Ramaswamy’s campaign initially issued a statement that did not address whether he was responsible for the ad or knew who produced it. In the earlier statement, Luck said Acton “has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of.”

Democrats and Republicans condemn the ad

Casey Putsch, a car designer and YouTube provocateur who competed against Ramaswamy for the Republican nomination for governor, said on social media that he would be voting for Acton in the wake of the ad’s release. He called the video “pretty damn low.”

Acton’s campaign released a statement from her brother, Philip Stearns, who said the two were removed from their mother Donna Arthur’s custody as children after their stepfather, Arthur’s husband, was indicted for raping Acton as a child. Acton has not seen Arthur, whose last known address was in Pennsylvania, since they were in a courtroom together in 1978.

Later Tuesday, the Acton campaign released a video featuring Stearns, who recalls his older sister taking “the worst” of the abuse they faced as children in order to protect him and disparages Ramaswamy and his allies for exploiting the situation.

According to police and court documents obtained by the Associated Press, Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with the rape of his stepdaughter, then 12, in July 1978, after Acton’s biological father reported him to authorities. The abuse allegedly happened from December 1976 to April 1978.

Cledith Arthur pleaded not guilty. He was indicted by a grand jury that September, but failed to show at a court hearing and remained a fugitive until at least 1981. He has since died.

High-profile Republicans who back Ramaswamy — including Donald Trump Jr. and influencer Laura Loomer — elevated the video in online posts.

But others joined Democrats in condemning the ad. Meghan McCain called it “dastardly” and Dan Hauser, a strategist for Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, said he deleted his post sharing the video once he realized “the very serious accusations that caused their issues.”

The Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Ohio, Sherrod Brown, described the spot as “disgusting” and said everyone — including his opponent, Sen. Jon Husted — should be willing to condemn it. Husted’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Smyth writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

Disney actor Erik von Detten is being sued for allegedly scamming an elderly couple in a bizarre precious-metals scheme.

The “Brink!” and “Princess Diaries” star — alongside Rosland Capital, a Los Angeles-based precious-metals asset management and sales firm where Detten worked as an account representative — is accused of scamming Sheila Greenberg, 85, and her husband, Norman Greenberg, 97. According to the lawsuit, filed in May, Rosland Capital and Von Detten persuaded the couple to invest more than $2 million of their retirement savings in gold coins worth only $1.3 million.

Representatives for Von Detten could not immediately be reached.

According to the court documents, obtained by The Times, the Greenbergs called the firm after seeing several Rosland Capital commercials on TV, which they claim were “designed in large part to appeal to senior citizens.”

“The advertisements warn of dire consequences facing retirees in the United States, coupled with concerns like runaway debt, inflation, political turmoil and the ever-devaluing dollar,” reads the suit. “The commercials tout the security of gold, silver and other precious metals against imminent financial chaos and tell of the benefits of ‘investing’ through Rosland Capital. Viewers are told that ‘investing’ through Rosland Capital is a way to protect hard-earned wealth.”

When the Greenbergs asked the firm for their “top advisor,” they claim they were connected with Von Detten. “They were very clear with Von Detten that they had never invested in gold or other precious metals and really knew very little about these things,” reads the suit. “They told Von Detten they were of advanced age as they thought it important to someone who was going to help them invest in gold bullion as part of their IRA. They told Von Detten that they wanted a trusted and knowledgeable advisor. And after speaking with him they were so sufficiently impressed that they disclosed that their combined Traditional IRA account balances were in excess of $2,000,000.”

According to the filing, the former teen heartthrob earned the couple’s trust, told the couple to leave the decision-making up to him, and that he was “very knowledgeable in precious metals and precious metal IRA accounts and would make very specific recommendations that meet the Greenberg’s needs.”

The Greenbergs allege that they rolled over the entirety of their traditional IRA accounts into the gold IRA, per Von Detten’s insistence. They said they paid $2,146,958.22 for gold coins worth roughly $1,360,925.00, “without any notion that in a matter of just two weeks” their retirement accounts had been sapped of more than $780,000.

After the couple’s retirement accounts were drained, they say Von Detten convinced them to invest another $114,000 through a family trust.

Rosland Capital filed for bankruptcy in July.

The actor, who also starred in the TV series “So Weird” and the 1997 film “Leave It to Beaver,” was a star on the rise through the ’90s and early aughts. His career in Hollywood fizzled out over the last two decades. According to IMDb, he acted in the 2024 thriller “My Acting Coach Nightmare” and in 2010, he voiced Sid in “Toy Story 3,” a role he also played in the 1995 original. In 2018, he joined Rosland Capital.

A New Mexico judge on Friday ruled in favor of Emmy winner Timothy Busfield, tossing out multiple child sex abuse charges against the actor.

During a hearing, Judge Joseph A. Montano granted Busfield’s motion to dismiss his indictment, citing prosecutorial misconduct and errors that undermined the grand jury process. According to the order, “the prosecuting attorney failed to act in a fair and impartial manner” and proceedings thus far “were conducted in a manner that violated grand jury statutes designed to protect the structural integrity of our grand jury system.”

State prosecutors had indicted Busfield in February and charged him with four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child. The since-dismissed charges stemmed from his alleged behavior with two actors, who are brothers, on the set of the Fox crime drama “The Cleaning Lady.” The actor, known for “The West Wing” and “Thirtysomething,” has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

While a legal representative for Busfield did not immediately respond Friday to The Times’ request for comment, a spokesperson for the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office said prosecutors are “evaluating our options to determine how we will proceed.”

A New Mexico judge issued a warrant for Busfield’s arrest in January, citing two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and a single count of child abuse. Busfield was accused of inappropriately touching the child actors during his time as an actor, director and producer on “The Cleaning Lady,” according to an affidavit filed by New Mexico officials.

One child actor alleged Busfield first touched his “private areas” multiple times on set when he was 7 years old, according to the complaint. He said that Busfield touched him inappropriately again several times when he was 8. The affidavit also detailed a police interview with Busfield in which he suggested that the boys’ mother might have sought “revenge” on the director for “not bringing her kids back for the final season.”

Busfield filed his motion to quash the indictment in June, alleging the court refused to provide members of the grand jury with additional information and that prosecutors refused to allow jury members to hear from other witnesses, among other claims, according to court documents.

“The State treated the grand jury not as an independent body, but as the arm of the prosecution our courts have forbidden,” the motion says. “The resulting indictment must be dismissed.” Prosecutors rebutted Busfield’s allegations in a response to the dismissal and asked the court to deny his motion.

Before Friday’s order, a jury trial was scheduled to begin May 10, 2027.