Garth Ancier, Former NBC Executive, Countersues Sex Abuse Accuser Michael Egan And His Lawyers

Garth Ancier, a former NBC television executive, filed a malicious-prosecution lawsuit on Friday against Michael Egan, a former teenage actor who had accused the 56-year-old exec of sexual abuse, as well as Egan’s attorneys, Michael Gallagher and Jeffrey Herman.

In April, Egan filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court in Hawaii claiming that he was sexually abused by Ancier in the late 1990s. The lawsuit was withdrawn on Wednesday by Egan’s lawyers. Egan had previously sued three other Hollywood executives, including “X-Men: Days of Future Past" director Bryan Singer, accusing them of sexual abuse when he was an aspiring actor and model.

“The action was brought to smear, harass and severely injure Mr. Ancier,” the complaint against Egan said, according to the Los Angeles Times. The complaint said it was done “as part of an avowed and very public campaign by Mr. Egan’s counsel to troll for new clients who would enable them to shake down other entertainment industry executives with threats of sexual assault charges.”

The complaint requests a jury trial to determine the amount of the damages caused to Ancier’s reputation by Egan’s allegedly false claims, noting that neither Ancier nor Egan were in Hawaii at the time of the purported abuses.

The reason why Egan voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit was not revealed. According to reports, the 31-year-old Egan has also withdrawn his lawsuit against another TV executive, David Neuman, but his suits against Singer and entertainment-company executive Gary Goddard are still pending.

“Mike Egan maintains that he was sexually abused by Garth Ancier,” Herman said in a statement on Friday, according to Reuters. “This is nothing more than an attempt to silence victims. I will not be bullied, and I will continue to fight for victims of sexual abuse even when it happens in Hollywood.”