text: The New York Police Department is investigating embattled Hollywood director Bryan Singer for a forcible sexual assault that was allegedly committed last year against a man in his twenties, an NYPD spokesperson has told BuzzFeed News. 
   
   The 48-year-old Singer, known for directing the X-Men movies, has not been charged with a crime. Whether he ever will be depends largely on what the investigation turns up. Two civil lawsuits accusing Singer of sexual abuse of underage boys have recently been dropped. 
   
   Singer's lawyer, Martin Singer (no relation), wrote in an email, "Neither my client nor any of his representatives have been contacted by the NYPD, or anyone else about an alleged criminal investigation of my client. My client did not engage in any criminal or inappropriate behavior with anyone in New York or elsewhere." He added, "False investigations are filed all the time and no action is taken by the authorities." 
   
   Martin Singer also accused BuzzFeed of conducting "a witch hunt against my client because he is gay" and warned that publishing the story would expose BuzzFeed "to tens of millions of dollars in damages." 
   
   After a tip from a confidential source, BuzzFeed asked the NYPD if it was investigating Bryan Singer over a complaint about sexual assault. "We have a formal compliant [sic] on file for criminal sexual act," NYPD Deputy Chief Kim Royster replied in an email Wednesday. "The complaint was filed on May 9th of this year, however the incident occurred on March 23, 2013. The case is open and being investigated by our Special Victims Squad." 
   
   In a follow-up interview Thursday, Royster said the case involved a male in his twenties who was allegedly forcibly sexually assaulted. She said the suspect is Bryan Singer. She said she could give no more information about the victim because it's a sexual assault case. 
   
   Asked if it is unusual for Singer not to have been contacted, she replied, "I'm not sure of that," adding "not necessarily if you're building a case." 
   
   Told of what Royster said in the follow-up interview, another attorney for Singer, Andrew Brettler, wrote to BuzzFeed, "Your source is obviously not reliable. Less than 12 hours ago, you claimed that our client was being investigated for a criminal sexual act under the statute that covers sex with underage minors. Now you are claiming that the alleged complaining witness is a male in his 20s. Are you going to identify your alleged NYPD source by name in the defamatory story you intend to publish?" 
   
   Deputy Chief Royster is the commanding officer of the NYPD's public information division. 
   
   Under New York law, a criminal sexual act applies to an adult having sex with someone who is underage. The statute also covers sexual acts between adults when, for example, the sex is by "forcible compulsion" or when the victim is incapable of giving consent because he is "physically helpless" or "mentally incapacitated." 
   
   Singer's Twitter feed appears to indicate that he was in the New York City area on March 23, the date of the alleged incident. ||||| Michael Egan, the 31-year-old who accused director Bryan Singer and others of sexual abuse earlier this year, has dropped his suit against Singer. Though a momentary loss, the suit was dismissed without prejudice, which means he can file again – without his attorney Jeff Herman, who dropped Egan as a client last month. 
   
   You'd be forgiven for not remembering every twist and turn in the Singer case. Since Egan first accused the director of abusing him at parties in the late '90s last April, the tale has taken several different twists and turns. This is our best effort to put the pieces of the puzzle back together. 
   
   NOTE: For simplicity's sake, this timeline focuses primarily on the suits against Singer, not on Egan's other suits. Another plaintiff's suit against Singer and another defendant is referenced. 
   
   April 16: Egan files his lawsuit in Hawaii District Court eight days before the statute of limitations was set to expire. Egan, now 31, accuses Singer of abusing him when he was 17 in both California and Hawaii. However, only the latter state's statute of limitations still applies. 
   
   April 17: Singer's attorney, Marty Singer (no relation, but boy does it make talking about the two of them messy), says in a statement that the claims were "completely without merit." Herman says there will be more lawsuits against other individuals in a press conference. Singer drops out of press for his new film X-Men: Days of Future Past. 
   
   April 18: BuzzFeed uncovers that Egan and Alexander Burton, who played Pyro in Singer's first X-Men film, were plaintiffs in a 2000 sexual abuse suit against Marc Collins-Rector. Collins-Rector is a friend of Singer's who allegedly threw the parties where Singer and others abused Egan. Gawker's Jordan Sargent publishes a set of anonymous letters from those who have allegedly witnessed Singer's predilection for younger men. 
   
   April 24: BuzzFeed reports that Collins-Rector renounced his American citizenship in 2011, and hasn't been heard of since. 
   
   May 4: A second lawsuit, first reported by The Daily Beast, is filed against Singer and theater producer Gary Goddard. The plaintiff, a John Doe, is British and was allegedly abused several times from age 15 onward by both men. 
   
   May 13: BuzzFeed publishes a 2003 deposition in which Egan swore he'd never been outside of the continental U.S. Whether this includes Hawaii or not isn't immediately clear; Herman tells BuzzFeed, “I’m not sure how he interpreted the continental United States." This is significant, of course, because if the claims in Hawaii aren't valid, the suit is dead. 
   
   May 21: The Hollywood Reporter reports that Singer files a motion to dismiss against Egan's suit, citing the 2003 deposition. 
   
   May 23: Goddard files a motion to dismiss and provides evidence that he was not in Hawaii at the time the lawsuit alleged (mostly receipts and other time-stamped items). 
   
   June 26: BuzzFeed finds Collins-Rector. He's living in Antwerp, Belgium. 
   
   July 3: Singer files a motion to dismiss against the John Doe's suit. 
   
   July 25: John Doe's suit against Singer is dismissed. The suit against Goddard stays alive. 
   
   July 29: Herman, Egan's lawyer, drops the plaintiff as a client. BuzzFeed publishes documents that show that Singer tried to settle the suit for $100,000 in June, but Egan didn't agree. 
   
   August 28: A judge grants Egan's motion to dismiss without prejudice. Egan is free to gain new representation and file suit again.
target: – Two lawsuits claiming director Bryan Singer sexually assaulted teenage boys have been dropped, but that doesn't mean Singer's troubles are over. The director of X-Men: Days of Future Past is now being investigated by New York police regarding an alleged "forcible sexual assault" in March 2013, BuzzFeed reports. While Singer hasn't been charged with any crime, an NYPD rep says he is a suspect in a case involving a male in his 20s that "is open and being investigated by our Special Victims Squad." The complaint was filed in May of this year. Singer did not "engage in any criminal or inappropriate behavior," says his lawyer, adding that "neither my client nor any of his representatives have been contacted by the NYPD or anyone else about an alleged criminal investigation." The NYPD rep says that is "not necessarily" unusual "if you're building a case." The lawyer also calls BuzzFeed's reporting "a witch hunt against my client because he is gay." (The Wire has a chronology of the allegations against Singer here.) In dropping his case against Singer, alleged victim Michael Egan has retained the ability to re-file at a later date.