‘SNL’ star reportedly groomed, sexually assaulted child fan at cast party as fellow cast members looked the other way, lawsuit claims

Former "Saturday Night Live" star and comedian Horatio Sanz is facing a lawsuit for purportedly grooming, then later sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

NBCUniversal Media and SNL Studios are also named in the suit.

What are the details?

An unnamed Pennsylvania woman has filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court against Sanz for reportedly grooming her and sexually assaulting her at a "Saturday Night Live" cast party.

According to a Friday report from Fox News, the unnamed woman first met Sanz in 2000 when she was just 15 years old, after having run an "SNL" fan site.

Sanz, who was 31 at the time, reportedly invited the girl to attend a taping of the long-running comedy sketch show after taking notice of the site and kept in touch with her afterward.

A year later, when the girl was 16, Sanz invited her to after-show parties in which he reportedly plied her with alcohol, told her to sit on his lap, and touched her inappropriately. Those in attendance reportedly included former "SNL" actor and "Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" host Jimmy Fallon, who is not named as a defendant in the suit.

Around that time, Sanz reportedly requested that the teen send him photos of herself and "to perform sexual acts, including masturbation, which he asked her to describe to him."

"Sanz exchanged messages with [the teen] and steered conversations to discuss sex, sexual experiences, sexual activities, sexual fantasies, masturbation," a portion of the lawsuit states.

Sanz also reportedly referred to the teen as "slut" and "bitch" and boasted that he was masturbating during related conversations.

In 2002, Sanz reportedly sexually assaulted the teen and fondled her in front of other partygoers, who reportedly looked the other way.

His actions, according to the outlet, included "kissing her, groping her breasts, groping her buttocks, and digitally penetrating her genitals forcibly and without [her] consent."

After her involvement with Sanz, the teen fell into depression and "regularly self-medicated with dissociative drugs."

She was later reportedly hospitalized in connection with the purported abuse.

Seventeen years later, the unnamed woman reportedly ran into Sanz at a comedy event, where he apologized and admitted that he was a "different person" than she remembered.

"I swear on a stack of improv books," he reportedly told her. "I'm a different person. ... I had a real issue with sex. I was stunted. I didn't know how it worked. I spent all my 20s trying to be funny. So I wasn't normal with girls."

The suit is seeking unspecified damages as a "victim of child sexual abuse" who, as a result, suffered excessive "psychological and emotional harm."

A spokesperson for Sanz, however, says that the claims are "categorically false" and suggested that the woman wants to strike it rich on a payday.

"However often she repeats her ludicrous allegations or tries to rope in other high-profile names to generate media attention, they will always be false," the spokesperson said according to the outlet. "Before filing this lawsuit anonymously, she demanded $7.5 million in exchange for her silence. We, of course, refused and will vigorously contest these totally meritless claims."

NBCUniversal Media has not publicly commented on the pending litigation.