“Game of Thrones” Actor Joseph Gatt Sues Over Arrest He Claims Labeled Him as a 'Serial Pedophile'

The 'Z Nation' star claims an "obsessed fan" faked social media conversations that led to his April 2022 arrest, which has since left his career "in shambles"

Game of Thrones actor Joseph Gatt believes a 2022 arrest in connection with an alleged contact with a minor for a sexual offense ruined his career.

On Thursday, April 4, Gatt, 52, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles seeking $40 million in damages following what the court documents refer to as a “botched criminal investigation” that allegedly caused “intentional destruction” to his career and personal reputation after being “publicly branded as a pedophile.”

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Two years ago, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Gatt, who played Thenn Warg in Game of Thrones, after receiving a tip that he had been engaging in “online sexually explicit communication with a minor across state lines." Gott was released on the same day of his arrest after posting a $5,000 bail, per the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Inmate Information Center.

The Z Nation star denied the charges at the time, writing on Instagram that they “are 100% categorically wrong and reckless” and that he believed he found “confirmed errors and misleading information” in the statement put out by the LAPD.

The suit claims that the arrest stemmed from “the uncorroborated word of a then-16-year-old, admittedly obsessed fan of Gatt” and caused Gatt to be “arrested and prosecuted based solely on unauthenticated pictures of social media conversations” that “were obviously fake.” The teen, referred to in the court papers as “Jane Doe,” contacted Gatt via Instagram after receiving a Cameo video from him for her birthday in October 2020 and he supposedly “responded in a manner that was wholly appropriate and consistent with typical celebrity-fan exchanges.” The complaint alleges that the teen faked social media conversations “to trick and impress friends.”

“Unbeknownst to Gatt, throughout this time Jane Doe was an admittedly obsessed fan who was already using a naked picture of Gatt — a still image from his appearance on the television show Banshee that Jane Doe herself had apparently sought out and downloaded from the internet — as her phone’s lock screen even before Gatt had ever had any interaction with her,” the court docs state. “Gatt also learned much later that Jane Doe had professed that she had sexual dreams involving Gatt, and had also apparently downloaded from the internet pictures of Gatt from his appearance on the television show Z Nation and photoshopped a fake tattoo of her own name onto Gatt’s right bicep.”

Gatt believes, per the complaint, that Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Angela Brunson held “personal biases and animosity toward him” because her boyfriend worked at a tuning shop Gatt frequented and, therefore, she “ignored the glaring red flags” present in the supposed evidence against him. As a result, Gatt feels like his career took a hit.

“Gatt was immediately cancelled and what had previously been a burgeoning acting career was destroyed,” the complaint reads. “Gatt’s agent and PR representatives dropped him immediately, he was fired from two different movies in which he had already been cast, and he was also recast in a third movie in which he had been hired to play the lead role.

“Moreover, at least two other movies he had already filmed almost totally cut his scenes or reshot them with different actors, and he was not invited to attend the premieres. Gatt immediately stopped receiving any further role offers or audition opportunities, and instead received numerous death threats and was stalked and chased by a Daily Mail reporter.”

Gatt now seeks to “recover the more than $40 million in damages that he has suffered.”

The complaint lay out that Gatt hired a personal investigator who he wanted to present his own findings in court, only for the case to be voluntarily dismissed in February. It alleges that the L.A. District Attorney’s office threatened Gatt and his personal investigator with jail time if they made their findings public.

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According to the complaint, Gatt had to sell his Ford Shelby GT 500 car in order pay for his legal fees because he has not worked since his arrest. Gatt believes his career is “now in shambles based on nothing more than facially untrustworthy pictures of a phone screen and the unverified word of an obsessed fan” and claims he has “suffered immeasurable mental anguish and emotional distress that made him physically ill” as a result of this situation.

A representative for Gatt did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

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Gatt appeared as Thenn Warg in three episodes of Game of Thrones. Some of his many other credits include TV roles on Teen Wolf and The Dark Path Chronicles as well as in films like Dumbo and Black Adam.

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