Ed Westwick will not be charged with sexual assault because of insufficient evidence

Elizabeth Entenman
Updated
On Friday, July 27th, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced that actor Ed Westwick will not be charged with sexual assault. Get the full story here.

Since November of 2017, Ed Westwick has been accused of sexual assault by several women. But on Friday, July 27th, The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that they will not be filing charges against him due to insufficient evidence.

Actress Kristina Cohen was the first woman to come forward. Last November, she accused Westrick of raping her at a dinner party at his home.

“I went and laid down in the guest room where I eventually fell asleep, I was woken up abruptly by Ed on top of me, his fingers entering my body,” Cohen wrote in a Facebook post. “I told him to stop, but he was strong. I fought him off as hard as I could but he grabbed my face in his hands, shaking me, telling me he wanted to fuck me. I was paralyzed, terrified. I couldn’t speak, I could no longer move. He held me down and raped me.”

After that, three more women came forward with similar allegations: Aurélie Wynn, producer Rachel Eck, and stylist Haley Freedman all accused Westwick of sexual assault.

PEOPLE reports that two victims spoke with authorities and provided witnesses. But the D.A.’s office determined they were unable to provide enough information to prove that Westwick sexually assaulted the women beyond a reasonable doubt. Additionally, a third victim did not cooperate with investigators for interviews, so they will no longer pursue that charge.

PEOPLE also reported that during the investigation, other women came forward and accused Westwick of “unwanted touching.” But the D.A.’s office didn’t pursue those claims either, as they reportedly happened outside of the statue of limitations for criminal proceedings.

Westwick’s attorney told BuzzFeed News in a statement that the evidence “demonstrated from the start that each of the allegations made by the three women would be proven untrue.”

“It is a shame there are those who so publicly prejudged this case and that it took this long for Ed to be fully cleared,” she continued, BuzzFeed News reports. “I hope that those who made such quick judgment here not knowing anything about the abundant evidence of innocence in this case will hesitate next time before they so swiftly condemn before investigating the truth.”