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CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on sexual misconduct allegations against James Levine (all times local):
4:20 p.m.
Illinois prosecutors say they've investigated a sexual abuse allegation against longtime Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine and concluded "no criminal charges can be brought."
A Lake County state's attorney's office statement Friday says multiple factors, including "the relevant age of consent in Illinois at the time of the alleged incidents," led to the decision.
Prosecutors didn't provide details on the allegation in a complaint filed with police in suburban Lake Forest. They said it allegedly occurred in the summer of 1986 and 1987 when the accuser was 16 and 17 years old.
It added that none of the statements by the accuser "included any allegations of force" and that records from "the establishment" where the alleged acts occurred no longer exist.
Levine has denied allegations of sexual misconduct, telling The New York Times "they are unfounded."
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8:40 a.m.
Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine has denied allegations of sexual misconduct made against him.
In a statement to The New York Times on Thursday, Levine called the accusations "unfounded." He says anyone who truly knows him will attest that he has not lived his life as an oppressor or an aggressor.
The opera suspended Levine on Sunday after the Times published accounts from three of the accusers who say that Levine sexually abused them when they were teenagers. A fourth accuser later came forward.
The conductor also says in a statement that he wants to continue working at the Met. He says that his "fervent hope is that in time people will come to understand the truth."
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