Roman Polanski's lawyer has slammed officials at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) after they refused to reinstate the disgraced director.
The Rosemary's Baby director was expelled from the organisation behind the annual Oscars ceremony, alongside Bill Cosby, in May 2018.
The French-Polish moviemaker filed suit against AMPAS bosses in April, claiming executives broke their own rules by failing to give him a fair chance to challenge the decision.
Now, Academy bosses have ended Polanski's hopes of being reinstated and have requested to have his lawsuit thrown out.
Reacting to the news, the 85-year-old's attorney, Harland Braun, claimed in an interview with Deadline that the latest legal move was fraudulent.
"This response is totally absurd and a total sham," he declared. "The whole thing is a stupid PR stunt by them to look politically correct."
Braun alleged the board took the original vote in May last year without giving Polanski any notice.
"Basically, the answer is a fraud because before they took the original vote, they never gave Roman any notice of what the charges were, when the hearing was or when he could present his side," he stated.
Polanski and Cosby had both been accused of sexual assault before their expulsion from the Academy, with Polanski fleeing the U.S. to his native Europe after he was found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl at a Hollywood party in 1977. He has remained in exile ever since.
Academy officials said the board considered "voluminous materials" submitted by the director on appeal, including more than 400 pages of exhibits and a detailed memo from his attorney.
Polanski also recorded a videotaped statement directly addressing the Board of Governors.
In addition to lawsuit, the director has been receiving renewed attention of late, as a fictional version of him - played by Polish actor Rafal Zawierucha - and his murdered wife Sharon Tate, portrayed by Margot Robbie, appear in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
