LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced Tuesday that it has officially turned its investigation into sexual assault allegations against singer Marilyn Manson to prosecutors for consideration of possible criminal charges.
The Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau has completed a 19-month investigation into Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, according to the department. The Special Victims Bureau investigates cases of child sexual and physical abuse and criminal sexual assaults involving adult victims.
Manson, 53, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the face of assault allegations made by several women.
His attorney Howard King issued a statement last year saying: “Mr. Warner vehemently denies any allegations of sexual assault or abuse by anyone. These lurid claims against my client have three things in common — they’re all false, are said to have taken place more than a decade ago, and are part of a coordinated attack by former partners and associates of Mr. Warner, who have armed the otherwise mundane details of his personal life and their amicable relationships into fabricated horror stories.”
In a statement released Tuesday, prosecutors said sheriff’s department investigators had provided LADA with “partial case material relating to the sexual assault allegations against Brian Warner, aka Marilyn Manson.”
“There is more material that is still pending. However, we do not have a timeline for the additional filing by LASD,” prosecutors said in the statement. “Once we receive everything, experienced prosecutors will carefully and diligently review everything that has been filed before making a decision on filing. This review will take time, but rest assured that our office takes these allegations very seriously.”
Sheriff’s investigators served a search warrant at Manson’s West Hollywood home in November.
Warner was sued by Game of Thrones actress Esmé Bianco in April 2021 for alleged sexual assault and sexual violence in what she described as a series of violent encounters.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that Warner “used fraudulent offers of film and music video roles to persuade Ms. Bianco to travel to Los Angeles, whereupon Mr. Warner subsequently threatened violence and committed violent sexual acts on Ms. Bianco, which she didn’t agree to.”
According to the lawsuit, Bianco was invited to Los Angeles by Warner with a promise of work from the UK, and after moving into the goth rocker’s West Hollywood apartment in 2011, she wasn’t allowed to eat, sleep or leave without his permission.
“Mr. Warner raped Ms. Bianco in or around May 2011,” the lawsuit reads.
King issued a statement to the City News Service last year denying Bianco’s allegations.
“These claims are demonstrably false,” King said. “To be clear, this lawsuit was only filed after my client refused to be crushed by Ms. Bianco and her attorney and give in to their outrageous financial demands based on conduct that simply never happened. We will vigorously challenge these allegations in court and are confident that we will prevail.”
In February last year, actress Evan Rachel Wood accused Warner of sexual and physical abuse during their relationship, which lasted from January 2007 to August 2010. His record label, Loma Vista Recordings, dropped him after Wood’s allegation.
Warner denied Woods’ allegations in a social media post. He fired back in court in March of that year, suing Wood and alleging that she and another woman had caused him emotional distress by encouraging other women to make false allegations of sexual abuse against him.
