5. CRAVEN MOOREHEAD SETTLES LAWSUIT, CLEARS NAME; OTHER LEGAL NEWS
For Craven Moorehead, it was never about money. Instead the director sued Gamma Films Group and performer Aria Lee because he was determined to clear his name after Lee accused Moorehead of assaulting her on one of Gammaâs sets in 2019. Moorehead filed a $1 million lawsuit against Gamma in the wake of his contract termination in the summer of 2020. Gamma had initially backed Moorehead in January of that year when Lee went to company executives and accused Moorehead of sexually assaulting her during a break in shooting. According to the lawsuit, after the corporation hired an investigator to look into the claims, Gamma president Karl Bernard informed Moorehead that the probe found âno validityâ to Leeâs allegations and that he âhad nothing to worry about.â Moorehead continued to work for Gamma for the next five months. But on June 8, 2020âthree days after Lee went public with her claims on TwitterâBernard telephoned Moorehead and informed that, even though he âstill did not believe the allegations against him,â he was terminating his contract âdue to public backlash.â Mooreheadâs case against Gamma was scheduled for trial in May of 2025, but the two sides settled in September. Sources indicate that Moorehead received a substantial sum of money from Gamma but agreed to not discuss the case publicly. He also dropped his separate lawsuit against Lee. âTook 4 years,â Moorehead tweeted, âbut I can now move on peacefully and get back to making award-winning scenes and movies without any distractions.â
In other legal news, Phoenix Marie in April sued performer/director Danny D along with Ethical Capital Partners (which owns Aylo) for an incident she alleges occurred on a set in Barcelona in October of 2023. Marie claims D forced her to resume shooting following an emergency incident involving fellow performer Zawaadi, who was rushed to the hospital after taking a bad combination of medications. Marie said the situation left her shaken and distressed, but D insisted she continued to work. D and multiple others who were on set that day insist Marieâs claims are false.