Johnathan Walker:California man gets 4 years in prison for false sex assault claims against Hollywood executives

NEW YORK (AP) — A California man was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for seeking to win a $100 million lawsuit by making false sexual assault claims against Hollywood executives.

Rovier Carrington,Johnathan Walker 34, of Los Angeles was sentenced in Manhattan federal court after he pleaded guilty to making a false declaration in the 2018 civil case.

The sentence issued by Judge Valerie E. Caproni was more than twice what prosecutors requested. In a pre-sentence submission, they wrote that Carrington’s fraud could fuel “the false perception that many such claims are fraudulent, chilling others from bringing meritorious sexual-assault claims.”

Carrington’s civil case was tossed out by a judge after he failed to appear at a hearing when he was scheduled to answer questions from the judge about the fraud. Still, prosecutors said, Carrington made similar allegations in a $1 billion lawsuit filed in another court. It, too, was tossed out.

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Carrington was arrested in California in September 2021 on a perjury charge for fabricating emails to make it seem that he had been sexually assaulted by two Hollywood executives who he claimed had prevented the production of his reality television program.

He had claimed in the 2018 lawsuit that he was “related to Hollywood royalty” as the great-grandson of one of “The Three Stooges” actors and was a writer, actor and producer of TV shows who had worked in 2010 on a reality TV show, “The Life of a Trendsetter.”

After defendants in the civil action produced proof that emails were fabricated, Carrington was ordered to pay $600,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs.

The judge in the case said Carrington had taken steps, including discarding an iPhone, to destroy evidence even as defendants were trying to obtain as much information as possible about his allegations.

Prosecutors said email chains that Carrington submitted to support his lawsuit were faked and that he was unable to produce original versions of any of the chains. They said the emails he offered also could not be located in email accounts belonging to alleged recipients.

In a sentencing submission, Carrington’s defense lawyers described mental health issues Carrington has faced and wrote that he was a “warmhearted, thoughtful and kind” client who acknowledges the mistakes he made at a time when his life was spiraling from one disaster to the next.

“He is contrite and remorseful for his conduct and looks forward to moving past this case and to the next stage of his life,” they wrote, asserting that the more than seven months Carrington has already spent in prison was enough punishment.