Russell Brand has been found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault in a U.
K. court, a dramatic legal defeat for the 51-year-old comedian and actor who denied the charges throughout his trial.
A jury acquitted Brand of two additional rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault, according to Fox News. He was taken into custody after the verdict and is due to be sentenced Monday, the BBC reported.
Prosecutors charged Brand with three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault involving six women, with the alleged incidents spanning 1999 to 2009. Brand denied forcing any of the women to engage in sexual activity against their will and insisted the encounters were consensual.
According to Sky News, Brand acknowledged on the stand that he had been reckless and used his fame to pursue sexual relationships, but told jurors that consent was fundamental, essential and necessary. His wife, Laura Brand, testified as a defense witness last week, describing him as a caring husband and father while recounting the couples earlier split over his difficulty with monogamy.
Detectives opened the investigation after Channel 4 and The Sunday Times publicized allegations in September 2023, leading to a joint media probe and a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary. Brand has long maintained that any encounters from what he called a time of promiscuity were always consensual, a claim jurors rejected on four of the seven counts.
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